Petropavlovsk loses key supporter as M&G sells its stake to mystery fund
The board of embattled gold miner Petropavlovsk lost a key supporter today, as asset manager M&G sold its stake to a mysterious Russian fund.
City A.M. understands that the fund may have connections with two other unidentified shareholders, Cabs Platform and Slevin, who yesterday mounted an attack on Petropavlovsk's board saying they wanted to reinstate former directors Pavel Maslovskiy, Roderic Lyne and Robert Jenkins.
A top shareholder told City A.M. yesterday that Cabs Platform and Slevin bought their stakes from an entity controlled by Peter Hambro and Pavel Maslovskiy, and were likely to be closely connected to the two former executives.
Mining magnate Hambro, who co-founded Petropavlovsk with Maslovskiy, was ousted from the company last year when M&G and hedge fund Sothic Capital led a campaign to appoint a fresh board in an attempt to improve the gold miner's performance.
Just a month later, Maslovskiy – who was chief execucutive – resigned, saying the time had come for him to hand over.
With M&G now out of the picture, the mysterious group of rebel shareholders may find it easier to get Maslovskiy and the other former directors reinstated.
Kenes Rakishev, a Kazakh oligarch who owns the largest stake in Petropavlovsk through his Fincraft Holdings investment business, said yesterday that he was "surprised" by the move to reinstate Maslovskiy and did not know who the new shareholders were. But he has expressed support for bringing back Maslovskiy in the past.
Cabs Platform and Slevin, who are registered respectively to a lawyer's office in Gibraltar and a PO Box in Anguilla, are understood to be "activist individuals" who have not previously been members of the company's management.
Read more: Peter Hambro has been ousted from board of gold miner Petropavlovsk by rebel shareholders
[contf] [contfnew] 
CityAM
[contfnewc] [contfnewc]
