Former owner of Brixton Market slammed by shareholders ahead of AGM
London & Associated Properties (LAP), a listed property investment firm which sold off Brixton Market earlier this year for more than £37m, has been slammed by investors ahead of its June AGM.
In a letter seen by City A.M., sent to shareholders on Friday, Andrew Perloff of property investment group Panther Securities urged his fellow shareholders to support a resolution for the Heller family to buy minority investors out.
John Heller runs the company and his family owns a significant stake. Several shareholders are outraged that over the last decade, LAPs directors – mainly members of the Heller family – have received more than £18m in salaries and dividends.
The remaining 44 per cent of shareholders have pocketed just over £2m between them.
"[LAP] has a recent track record of paying minute dividends and when we achieve one excellent sale [of Brixton Market]… the shareholders received a Scrooge-like special dividend of 0.125p," wrote Perloff.
"This is an insult to shareholders."
Paul Mumford of Cavendish Asset Management, which owns nine per cent of LAP, also wants to be bought out due to the Hellers' excessive remuneration.
“Shareholders have been querying remuneration packages for some time now – and shareholder action will continue to arise if directors dont put forward a compelling plan as to how theyll establish shareholder value," he said.
"LAP shares are standing well below the net asset worth, so if a reasonable solution isnt tabled shareholders have a pretty strong case to continue calling on the board to buy them out and move forward as a private company."
Mumford also brought up Bisichi Mining, another company run by John Heller's brother Andrew.
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At Bisichi, chief executive Andrew Heller claims a salary of £900,000 at a company whose market value is just £10m – a sum which Mumford also slammed as "excessive".
"Ive approached the remuneration committee of both companies in the past – as a result LAPs CEO John Hellers remuneration dropped from over a million, but still remains higher than it should be when considering the stock market value of the firm," he said.
"Andrew Heller, CEO of Bisichi, refused to drop his pay when the issue was raised by shareholders in the past, and benefits from a huge salary compared to the value of the firm."
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