Buttula under fire at Sanford
IWL’s attempt to increase its stake in Perth-based online broking group Sanford continues to be embroiled in controversy, with IWL chief executive Otto Buttula having to survive a Supreme Court action last week to remove him from the Sanford board.
The Supreme Court in Western Australia ruled against an application made by a Sanford shareholder to prevent Buttula from taking up his position on the board.
The application came one week after IWL revealed it had struck a deal to boost its stake in Sanford from around five per cent to nearly 10 per cent, with options to further increase the stake to more than 17 per cent. As part of the deal, Buttula was handed a spot on the Sandford board.
However Sanford’s board may still be headed for a major shake up, with a general meeting of Sanford shareholders set for December 10, to vote on two separate resolutions to remove five of the group’s directors, including chief executive Steven Goh.
Both resolutions were filed in the wake of IWL’s deal to take a bigger stake in Sanford.
Meanwhile, IWL’s deal with Sanford is causing ructions for the group’s proposed merger with sharemarket information system provider Iress Market Technology.
A meeting of IWL shareholders has been set for November 8, to approve the Iress merger, but Iress has said it was not involved in the negotiations between IWL and Sanford and would seek further information about the deal before considering its response.
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