Pinewood Shareholder Calls For Grade To Quit

[Blowfeld]

A leading shareholder in the company which owns the Pinewood and Shepperton film studios is demanding the resignation of Michael Grade, its chairman, I can reveal.

Crystal Amber Funds, which owns 18 per cent of Pinewood Shepperton, at whose sites some of Hollywood's best-known films including many of the James Bond movies have been shot, will tomorrow call for Grade to step down at the company's annual meeting.

The development will be an embarrassment to Grade, the former chairman of ITV and Camelot, the National Lottery operator. It may also pose a potential headache for the board of Ocado, the online grocer which last week announced plans for a stock market flotation that could value it at up to £1bn.

Grade is chairman of Ocado, and while the company maintains that it has no plans to recruit a successor, there have been persistent suggestions of unhappiness in the City about his track record at the helm of public companies.

In a statement to be issued later tonight, Richard Bernstein, investment adviser to Crystal Amber, will say that the firm began investing in Pinewood 18 months ago because of a belief that the company was undervalued.

"We then sought to engage with the board and management in a constructive manner, offering proposals to enhance perceptions of the value in the business. Those proposals centred on creating greater transparency of the costs and profitability of the operating divisions and the value of Pinewood's property assets," Bernstein will say.

"Although these proposals were initially received well by management, we have seen no action and subsequent meetings with Mr Grade have been unproductive. We have experienced his poor stewardship of shareholder interests at first hand and have regrettably come to the conclusion that he has neither the desire nor the wherewithal to deliver. We do not believe it is in the interests of shareholders that he continues to lead the board."

Crystal Amber will also call for the resignation of Adrian Burn, the senior independent director of Pinewood. The fund believes he is no longer independent according to corporate governance best practice because he has been on the board for more than a decade.

I couldn't reach Pinewood Shepperton for a comment this evening, but there have been no indications that it is planning to appoint a successor to Grade.

Ominously, Bernstein will add that since Crystal Amber continues to believe that there is significant upside potential at Pinewood, “we firmly believe that it will be better realised by a board under fresh leadership. We are determined to press this matter by all means available.”

If that doesn't have the ring of a 007 villain about it..

This story can be found at http://blogs.news.sky.com/kleinman/Post ... 268fc92244

[Kristatos]

Grade deserves whatever he gets - karma for killing off Doctor Who the first time.