M&B's largest shareholder backs down
Mitchells & Butlers (M&B), the managed pub operator, has won its power struggle with major shareholder Joe Lewis and appointed Simon Laffin as its new chairman.
It also revealed that the non-executive representatives of billionaire investor Joe Lewis, who owns 23% of the company, have stepped down.
The move follows Monday's announcement that the group had approached the Takeover Panel over the blocking of three replacements for outgoing chairman Drummond Hall, one of which was non-executive Laffin.
The Takeover Panel move seems to have prompted an almost immediate backing down by Lewis and his representatives on the board, who was effectively being accused of undermining its effectiveness.
Stepping down as non-executive directors at M&B are Richard McGuire, along with Douglas E McMahon, both of who were appointed by Piedmont Inc, the investment vehicle of Joe Lewis. Also leaving are Dennis Jackson and Ray MacSharry.
Laffin, M&B's new chairman, said: "We are moving swiftly and decisively to protect the interests of all shareholders and to maintain a sharp focus on operations."
Hall added: "Simon was one of the shortlisted candidates for the chairmanship and I am delighted that he is taking over, confident that he will work tirelessly for all our shareholders."
The move to appoint Laffin came just 24 hours after M&B revealed that three candidates, including Laffin, to take over as chairman had been blocked at the "last minute" by a representative of Piedmont despite being involved from the start of the process.
M&B also reported that Piedmont had requsted the resignation of Simon Laffin, the senior indepependent director.
MA Comment
An extraordinary 24 hours at M&B has seen the company executive and independent non-executive directors face down a major shareholder who seemed to have his own agenda.
It is an extraordinary contrast with the battle for strategy control that raged with former major shareholder Robert Tchenguiz.
Last time around, the company gave way fairly quickly and ended up losing around £500m in hedge swaps linked to an aborted property deal.
