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Hedge fund hoping to unseat six First Group directors backed by leading City fund managers


Hedge fund hoping to unseat six First Group directors backed by leading City fund managers

First Group faces a major rebellion today after some of the City’s most influential fund managers threw their weight behind an activist investor.

Coast Capital, which owns almost 10 per cent of First, wants to unseat six board members, including chairman Wolfhart Hauser and chief executive Matthew Gregory, and install six of its own directors, at a one-off meeting in London.

Columbia Threadneedle Investments, Schroders, Farringdon Capital Management and property mogul Robert Tchenguiz will also be voting against 69-year-old Hauser staying on the board.

All change? Coast Capital, which owns almost 10 per cent of First, is hoping to unseat six members of the board including chairman Wolfhart Hauser and chief exec Matthew Gregory

All change? Coast Capital, which owns almost 10 per cent of First, is hoping to unseat six members of the board including chairman Wolfhart Hauser and chief exec Matthew Gregory

It means investors with nearly 30 per cent of shares in First are expected to oppose Hauser. 

Coast needs support of more than 50 per cent to unseat the chairman or any other directors and wants to cancel the planned sale of First’s UK bus business and turn it around instead.

First is the biggest operator of the famous yellow school buses in America, and runs rail lines such as Great Western Railway and South Western Railway in the UK.

The Aberdeen-based company’s share price has plunged from more than £3 a decade ago to 98.5p yesterday.

Coast’s chief investment officer James Rasteh said selling the UK bus business was ‘a terrible plan’.

He said: ‘Selling off what was historically their core bread and butter business is a clear admission that they don’t know how to manage the business.’

He added: ‘We need change and we need dramatic change, and we need it very quickly.’

First said: ‘Coast’s aim is to seize control of a UK plc without paying a premium. Their plans are not in the best interests of all shareholders, and would leave the company with higher debt.

‘We have an independent and diverse board, with the right skills to deliver these plans at pace.’

 



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