Corre Energy, a power storage developer based in Dublin, is planning to appoint Rune Eng as interim chairman in the upcoming annual general meeting after the stepping down of Frank Allen. The proposal to have Mr Eng as the sole non-executive director has been given a thumbs down by Institutional Shareholder Services, a significant advisory body, as it would result in a monogendered board.
Frank Allen, Corre’s current chairman and previously the head of Dublin’s Luas rail initiative and chairman of the Housing Finance Agency, will not be available for reappointment. This indicates that Rune Eng will be the only non-executive director unless shareholders heed IIS’s advice and vote against his reappointment.
Allen, who has held the chairman post prior to Corre’s IPO in 2021, has managed to achieve significant growth for Corre Energy, including attaining key commercial milestones and managing fundraising activities. His most recent efforts include initiating a process led by Rothschild & Co to increase investment interest in the company.
Upon his departure, after his three-year term concludes due to external professional engagements, Mr Eng will step in as interim chairman if all decisions are passed at the aforementioned meeting. The audit and risk committee’s duties would then be integrated into the main board of directors.
A replacement process has already commenced to appoint non-executive directors to the board and to reconfigure board committees to better match the company’s future growth requirements. Corre has stated that these efforts align with a well-progressing investment process, as well as commercial scale-up chances the company is actively pursuing.
Corre Energy’s chief executive, Keith McGrane, extended heartfelt gratitude for Frank’s unyielding dedication, guidance, and backing ever since Corre Energy’s IPO. These board modifications are part of a planned transition aimed to aid the company’s future expansion.
“He has played a crucial role in steering the company through a number of pivotal events, such as acquiring offtake contracts for our projects, augmenting our portfolio, supervising multiple rounds of successive capital raising, and propelling Corre Energy to a leading position amongst LDES firms in the industry.
Our main focus continues to be developing the substantial investor interest we’ve received and intensifying our efforts to optimise the value delivered to our shareholders and wider stakeholders.
In line with this, our board is poised to evolve to aid our ensuing growth phase and we are eager to share updates about the induction of new non-Executive and senior executives when the time comes.
Meanwhile, Corre is on the lookout for novel investment. ISS has advised shareholders to oppose a proposal granting the company the authority to increase its market value by up to 20% through share sales, bypassing the initial option of shareholder participation.”