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Petropavlovsk mired in legal battles after shareholder coup

Petropavlovsk operates three mines in Russia's far east 
Petropavlovsk operates three mines in Russia's far east

Petropavlovsk is mired in legal and management battles following a shareholder coup in August that ousted the troubled gold miner's chief executive and several directors.

The FTSE 250 gold miner told the stock exchange on Friday that its new interim chief executive Maksim Meshcheryakov continued to battle a “lack of co-operation” from a “very small number of senior employees and officers of the company’s subsidiaries”, who appeared to have been pressured to withhold information from the board and ignore some of its instructions.

It said some of its subsidiaries were also now facing legal action in Russia from individuals including former chief executive Pavel Maslovskiy’s son Alexey, following what the company described as its attempts to reverse changes made to key Russian subsidiaries’ constitutional arrangements.

James Cameron Jr, chairman since August, claimed these constitutional changes were made in June and July without the current board’s knowledge and "apparently at the direction of Pavel Maslovskiy".

He said the litigation had “no proper legal basis” but would eat up funds that could usefully be spent elsewhere, although there had been no material impact so far.

Petropavlovsk’s new board is preparing to commission an independent investigation into Petropavlovsk’s transactions over the preceding three years, as backed by shareholders in August. 

It comes as Mr Meshcheryakov is under criminal investigation in Russia after being denied access to the company’s Moscow offices in August.

Petropavlovsk has said he was under investigation for “arbitrariness”, which may include actions to protect lawful rights.

The company said Mr Meshcheryakov eventually entered the office in the presence of Moscow police after calling them to attend.

Petropavlovsk, which operates three mines in Russia’s far  east, was founded by Peter Hambro in 1994 and has regularly been rocked by shareholder power struggles.

Mr Hambro was ousted alongside Mr Maslovskiy in August following a resolution brought by shareholder Everest Alliance. Rival miner UGC, owned by Russian billionaire Konstantin Strukov, owns a 23pc stake.

In half-year results to the end of June posted on Friday, the company announced a 42pc increase in gold produced to 320,000 ounces and a 71pc increase in revenue to $522m [£403m].

Mr Cameron added: "Our guiding focus is to deliver greater value for all shareholders. This will involve reducing costs, improving controls and raising standards of governance across the company."

Shares fell 4.2pc to 26.3p, valuing the company at £1bn.