M&B appoints Joe Lewis man to board of directors
MITCHELLS & Butlers (M&B), the pub and restaurant group, said yesterday it will appoint Ronald Robson, a representative of rebel shareholder Joe Lewis, to its board from 22 January.
The appointment will need to be ratified by shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting on 28 January, it added.
Lewis’s investment vehicle, Piedmont, which is M&B’s biggest shareholder with a 23 per cent stake, is entitled to have two representatives on the M&B board. However, in December, the operator of All Bar One and Harvester ousted four directors, including Lewis’ two representatives, and called on the Takeover Panel to rule whether rebel shareholders were trying to gain control of the group.
A source close to the situation said M&B did not object to Robson, who is currently chief financial officer of Lewis’ property company, Tamar Capital.