Panel rejects Auris application

The Takeovers Panel has thrown out an application from Perth-based Auris Minerals to stop a group of dissident shareholders from voting at a meeting to spill the company’s board.

Auris applied to the panel last week, claiming that the Mandevilla requisitioning shareholders, who called the meeting to remove chairman Bronwyn Barnes and independent director Susan Vearncombe, were not providing full disclosure of voting power.

The company was seeking final orders prohibiting the shareholders from voting at the meeting, however, the panel said Auris did not provide enough evidence to warrant further investigation and would not pursue the application.

“The panel concluded there was no reasonable prospect that it would make a declaration of unacceptable circumstances and Auris had not provided a sufficient body of material to justify the panel making further enquiries as to the alleged association,” the panel said in a statement.

The sitting panel was Tracey Horton, Richard Hunt (sitting president) and Bill Koeck.

The shareholders have an 11 per cent stake in the company and are also seeking the appointment of Auris shareholder Neville Bassett and geologist Brian Thomas.

The company also received a notice from a different group of shareholders last month calling for the removal of Auris’s other director, Robert Martin. 

The meeting is scheduled for April 20.

The application to the panel came after Ms Barnes disclosed that some of the people seeking to oust her had been negotiating a farm-in proposal last year without the knowledge of the company’s board.

Shares in Auris were up 17.5 per cent to 6.7 cents each at 2pm AEDT.