(Reuters) -Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies said on Friday its third-largest investor has asked the British pharmaceutical company to hold a shareholder meeting to remove its chief executive officer and a majority of its board members.
Former non-executive director Gavin Sathianathan, who serves as the top boss of U.S.-based private investment firm GHS Capital, has proposed resolutions to remove six of Oxford Cannabinoid’s directors including CEO John Lucas and Chair Julie Pomeroy.
Sathianathan wants to appoint James Brodie, Richard Bedford and Richard Grethe to Oxford Cannabinoid’s board at the meeting.
The British company’s co-founder and top shareholder Neil Mahapatra, one of the directors up for re-election, stepped down as chairman in November after a firm controlled by him breached a lock-in agreement put in place ahead of the company’s market debut in May.
GHS, which owns 8.14% of Oxford Cannabinoid, said in a letter to the company that the strategy of the new board should be to start an immediate strategic review.
Oxford Cannabinoid said it intends to comply with the obligation to call a general meeting.
(Reporting by Sinchita Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M. and Aditya Soni)
