This marks a unique job shift in the universe of Nairobi securities Exchange-listed firms.
he cement manufacturer did not specify the new title of Mr Ashley who has been replaced as chairman by another long-serving non-executive director Wilfred Murungi.
ARM has in recent years struggled with losses and a debt load, causing its share price to fall by a large margin.
ARM Cement’s #ticker:ARM long-serving chairman Rick Ashley has temporarily quit the position to take a new role of executive director, helping chief executive Pradeep Paunrana to run the company as the manufacturer fights its way back to profitability.
“Mr Ashley will run the day-to-day operations for a few months during which time I will focus on raising funds,” Mr Paunrana told the Business Daily.
“This is a temporary situation and Mr Ashley will resume his role as chairman.”
In the meantime, Mr Ashley has been replaced as chairman by another long-serving non-executive director, Wilfred Murungi.
The plan to bring Mr Ashley back as chairman could require the Capital Markets Authority (CMA’s) approval.
The regulator’s corporate governance guidelines provide that the chairman of a publicly traded company should be an independent, non-executive director, a description Mr Ashley will lose with his new role.
The CMA, among other criteria, defines an independent director as one who “has not been employed by the company in an executive capacity within the last five years.”
The regulator however has the discretion to issue exemptions in extraordinary cases.
The board changes at ARM point to the flurry of activities at the cement manufacturer, with investment road shows and ARM Tanzania’s challenges taking up more of Mr Paunrana’s time.
“We’re meeting with a variety of interested (equity) investors. So I’m focusing on that and the debt restructure,” Mr Paunrana said, adding that these activities could take two to three months to complete.
“So somebody needs to be in the office running the day-to-day operations including relations with banks and suppliers.”
ARM has struggled with losses and a debt load, causing its share price to fall by more than 80 per cent over the past three years to close at Sh13 in yesterday’s trading.
The company is set to sell its fertiliser and minerals business to Swiss industrial firm Omya in a transaction that is expected to fetch billions of shillings.
An undisclosed amount is set to be raised from the new strategic investor while the company is in talks with its creditors to extend the life of their loans to ease pressure on its cash flows.
