West African Minerals surges on board reshuffle

2nd Jun 2015 12:42

Shares in West African Minerals jumped over 20% on Tuesday, after the group said it agreed to reshuffle its board.The London-listed company received a letter in March from shareholder Panetta Partners Ltd's solicitors demanding West African organise a general meeting for its shareholders to vote on the removal of managing director Anton Mauve and non-executive director Gerard Holden.The letter, which was also signed by fellow shareholder Beaufort Nominees, also requested the appointment of Willy Simon, Sanjiv Sangar and Andrew Gutmann.Beaufort represents 117.5m shares in West African Minerals, while Panetta holds 50.2m shares, together representing a 44.5% stake.The group said the demand had been withdrawn after Mauve had decided to voluntarily step down from his role, although the will maintain his "operational role" as president.Simon and Gutmann, who heads the capital markets division at Beaufort International Associates, were appointed to the board with as non-executive directors with immediate effect.West African Minerals shares were up 23.14% to 3.23p at 14:30 on Tuesday.