The directors of AIM-listed Hirco have threatened to resign if shareholders pass any of the resolutions by activist investor, Laxey, to overhaul the board.

The Indian developer urged shareholders this morning to vote against all the resolutions Laxey has put forward at an emergency meeting on 6 May.

Hirco said the resolutions were ‘misguided’ and ‘directly against the interests of the company’.

It said: ‘Given these irreconcilable differences of opinion, were any of the resolutions passed at the EGM, it is the current intention of all the remaining directors to resign from the board.

Laxey, which has a 10.05% stake in Hirco, is pushing for the ousting of chairman Niranjan Hiranandani, the father of chief executive, Priya Hiranandani, and also non-executive directors David Burton and Nigel McGowan.

The activist investor wants to replace them with four ‘independent’ directors including two Laxey employees: Andrew Pegge and Michael Haxby.

Hirco accused Laxey of destabilising the company ‘at the very time its links with Hiranandani are the most important’ and said the ‘disquiet’ it has created was ‘already having a detrimental impact on the confidence of potential purchasers of units in the current development projects’.

Douglas Gardner, director at Hirco, said: 'The board considers that the Laxey resolutions are misguided and not in the interests of all shareholders. The board remain fully confident of the underlying inherent value of the company's participating preference shares investments in the current development projects and firmly believe in the prospects for the company. The company will continue to work to demonstrate more fully this underlying value to both shareholders and the market.'

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