Emperor Energy director angles for control of the oil and gas junior

Oil and gas minnow Emperor Energy is facing a move by certain shareholders, including one of its directors, to take control of the board.

The shareholders, known as the “convening group”, include non-executive director Carl Dumbrell and they have collectively amassed a 15.23 per cent stake in Emperor (ASX:EMP).

The group filed a substantial shareholder notice last week that included a notice of extraordinary meeting scheduled for April 2 to vote on the removal of all directors except Mr Dumbrell.

It also proposed the nomination of Nigel Harvey and Philip McNamara as directors in their place.

Emperor told the market today that it was determining the validity and appropriateness of the proposed notice and “will provide an update announcement in due course”.

In mid-December, Vaz Hovanessian was appointed chairman and Dr Raymond Shaw and Dr Natt Arian came in as directors.

At the same time, Mr Dumbrell was stripped of his role as company secretary and Mr Hovanessian was named as an interim replacement.

Emperor Energy (ASX:EMP) shares over the past year.

Emperor said in its December quarterly that the shareholder group had initially scheduled a meeting for January 4, but that was to be rescheduled to sometime in February on Emperor’s say-so.

The company has established a board committee comprising Dr Shaw and Dr Arian to handle the issue.

Stockhead is seeking comment from Mr Dumbrell.