R&Q investor Phoenix seeks leadership change
Phoenix Asset Management Partners, a shareholder in R&Q Insurance Holdings, has published an open letter to shareholders calling for CEO William Spiegel (pictured) to step down.
Phoenix Asset Management Partners owns 46 million ordinary shares in the company and has been an investor in the company since its IPO in 2007.
In the letter, the investor says it has seen the performance of the business deteriorate under the leadership of Spiegel. It wants a general meeting to be called at which resolutions will be proposed for Spiegel to stand down and a new executive director be appointed.
This latest move comes after R&Q raised $130 million in new capital, an increase on its initial intention to raise $100 million, citing strong investor demand.
That was necessary after Brickell PC Insurance Holdings backed out from its proposed £482 million deal to acquire R&Q, alleging “material breach” of their implementation agreement – a claim that the legacy and programme manager has firmly denied.
The letter states: “William Spiegel is not the right person to be leading the company. We have confidence and trust in Ken Randall, the company's founder and former executive chairman. We seek his reappointment to the board as an executive director.
“We also believe that the board should be led by an independent non-executive chair and we believe that the majority of shareholders share that view.
“We are disappointed that the board, having agreed to try and effect this change out of the public arena, has gone back on that, forcing us to adopt this approach. We delayed this requisition for a further day to allow dialogue with the board and received no real engagement.
“We believe the majority of shareholders share similar concerns to us and that will be demonstrated by the result of the vote.
“We are very much supportive of the company and have shown this by offering to provide all the new capital that the company has sought, and more. We want what is in the best long-term interests of the Company and its stakeholders including employees and shareholders and we believe that by adopting these resolutions we will be on the right path to achieving that.”
