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Shareholders force vote on removing Orbach

17.07.12 | Benedicte Page

Quarto shareholders are to vote on the potential removal of chairman and c.e.o. Laurence Orbach as a director of the company, following a formal request from two shareholders holding a 19% stake for a special meeting to decide the issue. Orbach, a co-founder of the publisher, is also the majority shareholder. 

The dissident shareholders, whose shareholding is managed by Harwood Capital LLP, have also demanded a vote on whether Tim Chadwick be appointed as Orbach's successor.

Quarto chief operating officer Marcus Leaver, who joined the company in March with the remit of succeeding to Orbach's role when Orbach retires in 2013, declined to comment other than to say: "Under Laurence's stewardship the business has been solid and reliable for the past 36 years, very dependably managed over a long period of time and among many market shifts. We have paid out dividends for the last 12 years." His own arrival at the company had been a "responsible generational succession plan", Leaver added.

Chadwick is understood to have no previous involvement with the company.

The date for the shareholder special meeting has yet to be set.

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