Billionaire hedgie Crispin Odey looks to boot out bosses at struggling Tungsten
Billionaire hedgie Crispin Odey is leading a charge to overhaul the board of beleaguered digital invoicing firm Tungsten.
A notice from Tungsten confirmed that Odey Asset Management had demanded a shareholder vote to remove the company's chair Nicholas Parker, as well as chief exec Richard Hurwitz and two non-executive directors.
The requisition aims to appoint Anthony Sebastian Bromovsky and Duncan Goldie-Morrison to Tungsten's board.
Odey's hedge fund owns an estimated 14 per cent stake in the business. Tungsten is now required to call a general meeting within 21 days, and hold the meeting not more than 28 days after it had set a date.
It told shareholders not to take any action at this time.
"The board of directors regrets that this action has been taken at a time when Tungsten has reached an inflection point and considers the requisition to be unwelcome and unnecessary," a statement from the company read.
"The board is unanimously of the view that the resolutions are not in the best interests of the company and its shareholders as a whole and intends to unanimously recommend that shareholders vote against the resolutions at any requisitioned general meeting."
Last month, a Sky News report suggested Odey had been canvassing votes from members to force a change in the boardroom at Tungsten.
Sources told the broadcaster it reckoned Tungsten would have "little choice" but to cave in to Odey's demands due to his large stake in the company.
Since Hurwitz took over in July 2015, shares in the company have plateaued after they plummeted down to 63.5p from around 345p in the summer of 2014.
A trading update from the company in June showed that losses had narrowed to £4.6m from £11.8m in its full-year report for 2017, as bosses said Tungsten operated profitably in the first four months of 2018.
The company is due to announce its full-year results on 23 July.