Nanoco rejects shareholder group's concerns, bosses will not step down

(Reuters) -Nanoco Group on Monday said its directors had no plans to step down after a shareholder group alleged the nanotechnology company gave misleading information related to settlement prospects in litigation with Samsung Electronics Co and called for their removal.

In February, Samsung Electronics had agreed to pay $150 million to Nanoco to settle patent lawsuits over technology used in Samsung's LED televisions.

The shareholder group, led by Tariq Hamoodi, who holds more than 4.23% in Nanoco, asked CEO Brian Tenner and CFO Liam Gray, along with other directors, to step down from their roles and board, in a letter dated March 10, which the shareholder group made public on Monday.

"Nanoco's board emphatically rejects the shareholder group's speculative concerns about certain actions and activities involving Nanoco," the company said in a statement.

Nanoco's shares were down about 1.5% at 1224 GMT.

The shareholder group's letter said: "Nanoco had settled on terms substantially less favourable than its prior statements had led shareholders to believe, and on less favourable terms than our clients understand had been previously offered by Samsung."

The letter also alleged that shareholder Lombard Odier Asset Management, along with minority shareholder Richard Griffiths were involved in misleading information in relation to the Samsung Litigation.

Lombard Odier and Griffiths declined to comment on the allegations.

Lombard Odier is Nanoco's second biggest shareholder with about 13%, based on Refinitiv data.

Nanoco said it was confident that the board's actions and statements over the period of the Samsung litigation were in line with its corporate governance duties, obligations and standards.

(Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Prerna Bedi; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Varun H K and Jane Merriman)