SKYEPHARMA’S attempts to appease a cabal of disgruntled shareholders appeared to dissolve into farce after the drug maker told The Times last night that the future of Ian Gowrie-Smith, chairman and founder, was not up for negotiation.
The unequivocal position appeared to conflict with the understanding of rebel investors, who left a crisis meeting with SkyePharma’s independent directors earlier in the day with the impression that Mr Gowrie-Smith would step down after the appointment of a new chief executive.
According to one source present at the meeting, the shareholders had been led to believe that Mr Gowrie-Smith no longer enjoyed the full backing of the board. The source, who described the meeting as cordial and constructive, said he had understood that the chairman’s departure would be effected shortly after a new chief executive was found.
The shareholder, who declined to be named, said: “We want to have confidence in the boards of the companies in which we invest. That starts with the chairman. In terms of SkyePharma, we would have preferred for the chairman to leave before the chief executive, but as far as our discussions today are concerned, it could have been a lot worse.”
However, a SkyePharma spokesman insisted last night that Mr Gowrie-Smith’s position was not open for discussion: “Ian’s position is irrelevant to the strategic overhaul that is currently under way — namely to find a buyer for all or parts of the company.”
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The confusion is likely to result in an interesting meeting at the end of the month when the independent directors meet again with the rebels to update them on the search for a new chief executive.
Egon Zehnder, the headhunting firm, is understood to have drawn up a shortlist of three credible, external candidates to replace the drug maker’s current head, Michael Ashton. Mr Ashton announced his resignation last September after the company failed to find a partner to help to develop its most promising treatment, an asthma drug called Flutiform.
Meanwhile, shares in SkyePharma fell nearly 5 per cent after Fidelity, one of the company’s biggest shareholders, sold more stock. The fund manager has sold more than 17 million shares in recent days in a move that some analysts believe is a vote of no-confidence in management.
Fidelity, which did not attend yesterday’s meeting, declined to comment.
SkyePharma is working on a plan to break up the company after efforts to whip up an auction failed on Sunday night. The deadline was imposed by Lehman, the company’s advisor, in letters sent out to parties who had expressed an interest in the entire business.
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Lehman is still working on offers for parts of the company, including an injectable medicines division, a unit specialising in oral drugs and the Flutiform subsidiary.
SkyePharma’s shares closed 2½p lower at 45½p.