(Reuters) - JKX Oil & Gas Plc's (L:JKX) second-largest shareholder, investment firm Proxima Capital Group Inc, said it had sought a general meeting to replace nearly all of the energy company's management with its nominees.
Proxima, which said it owns nearly a fifth of JKX, proposed on Friday to replace five of JKX's nine current directors including its chairman, chief executive, and finance director, and oust another two non-executive directors.
JKX has faced such demands before. In 2013, largest shareholder Eclairs Group failed to remove Chief Executive Paul Davies, who has been on the board since 1998.
Moscow-based Proxima, which dropped its intention to make an offer for JKX in February, proposed to elect Paul Ostling, a former chief operating officer of Ernst and Young [ERNY.UL], as chairman and Tom Reed as chief executive.
"We are asking the shareholders of JKX to act now to save their company. The current JKX management have had their chance to demonstrate their ability to run the company properly and to realise its true value," said Proxima CEO Vladimir Tatarchuk, who is also one of the proposed candidates.
JKX on Friday afternoon repeated an offer made by Chairman Nigel Moore in October to meet with Proxima.
JKX shares have tumbled more than 90 percent in value over the past five years. The company, which makes most of its revenue from Ukraine, has struggled this year amid low oil prices and political tensions.
"The poor performance cannot solely be explained away by the fall in oil price or the geopolitical situation. In fact there has been a seemingly irreparable breakdown in the relationships between the company and all of its key stakeholder groups," Ostling was quoted as saying in the Proxima statement.
Shares in JKX, which traded at more than 500 pence in 2008, were flat at 27.32 pence on the London Stock Exchange on Friday.