David Anthony, the former CEO
of Hitachi Capital in the UK, has enlisted ex-Moneyway CEO Gary
Jennison to help him take control of struggling asset finance
lender Davenham Group plc.
In an extraordinary general
meeting to be held on 11 January, shareholders of Davenham (in
which Anthony has a 14.9% stake) will vote on whether to remove
current directors Paul Burke and James Kerr-Muir, and appoint
Anthony and Jennison as non-executive chairman and CEO
respectively.
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The Manchester-based
commercial finance provider ceased writing new business halfway
through this year, after taking heavy recessionary losses in its
property finance arm.
On the advice of corporate
finance advisory firm Hawkpoint Partners, Davenham said in July
that it would focus on collecting in its asset and property loans
in a prudent and orderly manner.
Nevertheless, Anthony has
long held the belief that there is still money to be made at
Davenham, and prospective CEO Jennison, who has been looking for a
business to grow since leaving non-prime consumer and motor lender
Moneyway, is enthusiastic about the challenge.
Jennison said: “There is a
real opportunity to get it going again but current management are
just focused on collecting in the old book.
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By GlobalData“David and I believe it would
be a real waste for Davenham to shut down. It has some good people
and systems, and had a good proposition before it made some bad
lending decisions.”
A circular released by
Davenham to shareholders in advance of January’s meeting stated
that the board and the group’s bank funders had sought to cooperate
with Anthony on any credible proposals for realisation of value to
shareholders.
Nevertheless, it stated that the bank funders did not wish
make any changes to the current Davenham board and that they would
support the current management team.
