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Billionaire tech founder Mike Cannon-Brookes has again urged AGL shareholders to vote in favour of his preferred board candidates at the company’s annual general meeting next month and issued a surprise endorsement of existing chairman Patricia McKenzie.
Cannon-Brookes, AGL’s largest shareholder who walked away from an attempt at acquiring the company last year, has been campaigning for an overhaul of the company’s board as part of his quest to decarbonise the company. His personal investment vehicle Grok has put forth four candidates for director’s seats at next month’s AGM: Professor John Pollaers OAM, Christine Holman, Dr Kerry Schott AO and Mark Twidell.
Mike Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures is the biggest shareholder in giant electricity provider AGL Energy.Credit:Renee Nowytarger
AGL has rejected three of the proposed candidates but endorsed Twidell, a former Tesla executive.
“To execute on the decarbonisation opportunity, AGL needs the right directors on its board,” the Atlassian founder said in a letter to shareholders. “Directors who can deliver inspirational thinking to return AGL to its leadership position in energy retailing and generation”.
AGL’s former chairman Peter Botten, chief executive officer Graeme Hunt, and two non-executive directors resigned in May after the company scrapped plans to split its retail power business from its wholesale generation business following pressure from shareholders, led by Grok.
McKenzie – a proponent of the failed demerger – became chairman in September, an appointment that was heavily criticised by Grok at the time.
But in an apparent change in tune, Sunday’s letter from Cannon-Brookes calls on shareholders to re-elect her as chairperson in addition to voting for the other director candidates proposed by the AGL board: Graham Cockroft, Vanessa Sullivan and Miles George.
The letter argues the current board is still “not up to the challenge” of delivering on the company’s potential, pointing out four out of five directors advocated for the failed demerger.
“Without expanding the size, diversity and skills of the Board, we believe AGL will continue to fall behind the rapidly transforming energy industry, and further destroy shareholder value,” Cannon-Brookes wrote.