Investor: Petroceltic overhaul is irreversible

The activist investor at the centre of the ongoing board battle at Irish explorer Petroceltic is confident its push for a change to the company’s management and operational strategy will succeed this year, even if it loses the vote at next week’s shareholder meeting.

Angelo Moskov, chief executive of Swiss-based investment firm Worldview Capital Management — which has been a shareholder in Petroceltic since 2011 and currently controls nearly 30% — said the process currently in train is “irreversible”. He said its proposed changes will come about either at next week’s EGM or at subsequent ones later this year.

Petroceltic’s shareholders meet next Wednesday to vote on three resolutions, two tabled by Worldview and one by the Irish firm. The explorer is nominating two additional independent directors for board appointment, while Worldview wants chief executive Brian O’Cathain unseated and removed from the board. It wants to add Mr Moskov and oil industry veteran Maurice Dijols. That, the firm said, would give it one direct representative and three independent nominees on the board.