The multi-million pound boardroom battle at Big Technologies, the listed electronic-tagging business, has taken an unexpected turn after the chairman stood down before a bid to oust him by the founder and former chief executive.
Alexander Brennan, independent non-executive chair, will leave with immediate effect, and be replaced on an interim basis by Sangita Shah, Big said.
Under Brennan, Big’s board has sued Sara Murray, who started the business and was chief executive until being sacked earlier this year, over claims that she forged documents in the run-up to its £577 million stock market flotation in 2021 and that she had undisclosed links to offshore companies controlled by a family trust that made more than £100 million at the time of the listing.
Alexander Brennan
DAVE M. BENETT/GETTY IMAGES
Big, which provides electronic location tagging services to the police, probation services and social care market, has also accused Murray of “improperly extracting” more than £19 million via separate “fraudulent schemes” and of providing false testimony to the market and the High Court. Murray has said she“utterly rejects” the claims, which are subject to an investigation by the Takeover Panel, the regulator.
The Financial Conduct Authority has said it is examining the claims and Big has said that the Serious Fraud Office is “aware” of the allegations.
The company said that Brennan’s decision was “in the interest of all shareholders, if a new director, independent of investigations [into Murray] were to lead the company’s efforts to resolve the protracted litigation against Sara Murray and associated parties.” Murray’s spokesman was approached for comment on the statement.
Murray and some of Big’s investors are attempting to stage a boardroom coup and last week called for a shareholder vote to remove Brennan and replace him with James “Jamie” Matheson, chairman of Aberdeen Standard Fund Mangers. Big has until October 16 to respond to Murray’s request.
Following Brennan’s departure Big has now lost two chairmen, two chief executives and one company secretary in a little over a year.