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Tungsten Corp Plc rejects combination offer from its founder

Published: 08:15 21 Mar 2016 GMT

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Truell left his CEO role in July, but he retains a 17% shareholding in Tungsten Corp.

Tungsten Corporation’s (LON:TUNG) former chief executive Edmund Truell has resigned from the board, after the company rejected proposals to combine its assets with his other businesses.

In a stock market statement Tungsten acknowledged recent speculation related to Truell and a purported offer for the group’s assets.

The group, which has an e-invoicing platform, said that since Truell’s ceased to be chief executive, in July 2015, he has made a number of suggestions in relation to combining operating businesses owned by Tungsten with other businesses in which he has an interest.

An outline of a potential transaction was put to Tungsten on March 19, the company said, though it did not involve an offer to purchase Tungsten Corp’s shares and instead proposed to combine business interests and cash due from asset sales with assets Truell has majority interests in, including the Tantalum unit (which owns a vehicle telematics business).

However, the Tungsten board has rejected the proposal.

“The resulting effect of this conceived combination would be that Tungsten's primary asset would be a minority stake in an enlarged group of disparate, illiquid assets controlled by Mr Truell and Tungsten itself would be transformed into an investment vehicle,” it said in a statement.

“The board of Tungsten has spent considerable time reviewing these suggestions, including the most recent proposal, and found them to date to be universally without merit for shareholders.”

Tungsten told investors that it believes significant progress has been made in addressing the challenges that the company faces, and it believes the strategy set out at last month’s capital markets day remains “the best and most certain path to maximise the creation of shareholder value.”

It added: “The board's priority is to oversee the effective execution of this strategy under the leadership of Richard Hurwitz, chief executive officer, and his executive management team; it believes that distractions from that risk destroying value.”

Tungsten Corp was founded by Edmund Truell, who brought the group to the AIM market via a £160mln float in October 2013. He is a significant shareholder and with a 16.97% stake he is the group’s second largest shareholder.

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