Four, including interim CEO Stafford Masie, have resigned from Africa Bitcoin Corporation after receiving demands from a majority of shareholders for their removal.
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Africa Bitcoin Corporation (ABC), the JSE’s first bitcoin treasury company, has just two directors remaining after the resignation of interim CEO Stafford Masie and three other directors.
This was announced in a Sens notice published on Monday where Masie and three independent directors – Norma Sephuma, Snowy Masakale and GG Alcock – resigned after receiving what are described as “aggressive” demands from the majority of shareholders seeking to remove them.
The four directors opted to resign before being pushed.
Masie’s departure becomes effective on 28 February 2027.
ABC has been mired in controversy in recent months following a Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) decision to issue debarment notices and financial penalties on former CEO Warren Wheatley, his wife Tatum Keshwar-Wheatley, and former CIO Akshay Karan.
Wheatley subsequently resigned from ABC, and all three stepped away as directors of subsidiary Altvest Credit Opportunities Fund (ACOF).
The Wheatley family controls ABC through WGW Capital and related parties.
Wheatley was fined R5 million and debarred for 20 years by the FSCA over findings of share price manipulation when the company was listed as Altvest. The R5 million penalty was imposed jointly on Wheatley and WGW Capital.
Wheatley has disputed the FSCA findings, claiming the transactions in question amounted to just R301 and dated back to September 2022, before the company changed its name to ABC.
The FSCA found that Wheatley, Keshwar-Wheatley and Karan artificially boosted the share price through a series of coordinated trades.
Wheatley maintains they were testing a faulty stockbroking platform to see if the trades executed properly and that there was no intention to manipulate the share price.
Shareholders call for additional non-executive directors
The latest board bloodletting relates to events that transpired post the FSCA debarment.
It follows a Sens notice issued on 8 October and came from WGW Capital and other shareholders with roughly 76% of the company’s ordinary shares.
They called for a shareholders’ meeting to vote on appointing two additional non-executive directors.
Moneyweb understands the two directors were intended to fill gaps in legal, regulatory and investment expertise following Wheatley’s and Karan’s departures.
One of the proposed directors brings legal and regulatory expertise which is needed given the ongoing issues with the FSCA, while the other has considerable investment expertise.
A subsequent and supplementary demand escalated the dispute by seeking the removal of the four directors who in any event resigned on Friday.
“The board’s position should not be interpreted as a general comment on the professional experience or capability of the proposed candidates,” reads the 8 October Sens, with the board adding that it did not support the two appointments at this time – a stance based on its independent judgement.
The board acknowledged the legality of the demand by roughly 76% of shareholders for a meeting to vote on the new appointments, but Moneyweb understands that there are concerns over the timing – coming just weeks after the FSCA debarment.
Operations continue
The remaining directors are Robin Coode, independent non-executive director, and Jonathan Phillips, financial director.
“The remaining directors, in consultation with the company’s advisors, are addressing the steps necessary to restore the appropriate board and committee composition in accordance with applicable statutory, regulatory and listing requirements,” reads the latest Sens.
The company’s executive team is still in place and will manage day-to-day operations.
Complicating matters are personal financial guarantees and collateral provided by Wheatley amounting to more than R113 million, according to a company remuneration disclosure.
This leaves Wheatley financially exposed in a company over which he no longer has executive leverage.
The shareholders’ meeting may help resolve that issue, should the two proposed directors be appointed.
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
