GoshawK's senior management team is bracing itself for a hostile takeover bid at the company's AGM on Monday.
Phoenix Asset Management Partners, which with 28.9% of GoshawK's share capital is the largest single shareholder, publicly slammed chairman Paul Spencer and chief executive Russell Brooke this week for paying themselves too much while failing shareholders.
Now Phoenix's chairman Sir Peter Thompson and director Gary Channon have been given the go-ahead from the Takeover Commission to hold emergency meetings with other shareholders to convince them to replace GoshawK's board.
Thompson and Channon propose axing Spencer and Brooke and taking on the roles of chairman and chief executive themselves.
They claimed: "GoshawK currently has a management that in our view pays itself too much, takes too much risk, outsources the investment of its float, has little personal investment in the company and which has not delivered an exit for shareholders."
However, Spencer hit back, saying: "Phoenix wants to take management control without paying a premium.
"We are confident that our shareholders, who have supported us since the management change in 2003, will continue to do so following another good year. The remuneration proposals are in line with a 57% rise in share price since September 2003 and reflect the successful turnaround of the company since its exit from Lloyd's."
