The London-listed mining firm has been experiencing massive boardroom upheaval since June.
The battle for the board at Eurasian Natural Resource Cooperation (ENRC) continued this week as its Kazakh founder, Alexander Machkevich, made a move to become chairman of the company, the Observer newspaper reports.
The London-listed mining firm has been experiencing massive boardroom upheaval since June when two UK independent directors were forced out of their positions. Following this, Randal Barker, corporate secretary and general counsel of the mining giant, resigned from his post in the midst of an internal governance probe.
Now, Machkevich is seeking clearance from the UK Listing Authority (UKLA) to join the board as a director, prior to his appointment as chairman. The firm's broker, Deutsche Bank, made the application three weeks ago, according to the Observer.
The multibillionaire and owner’s candidacy has not been well received by some of the company's British shareholders and other ENRC non-executives, including the former director-general of Britain's Conservative party, Sir Paul Judge. Judge made a bid to become chairman as well in August.
The Guardian reports that Machkevich and two other founders were not allowed to join the ENRC board as they were previously slammed with charges involving allegations of money laundering and forgery. In June, the charges were settled following the payment of a fine, although the men made no formal admission of guilt.
ENRC has not released comment on the latest boardroom maneuvers.
