Greg Noval, founder of Canadian Superior Energy Inc. SNG-T, has been ousted by his board of directors after a long-simmering dispute over a potentially lucrative Caribbean natural gas find.
Mr. Noval, who was serving as Canadian Superior's executive chairman, was voted out at a meeting late Friday afternoon. His departure was announced yesterday morning. Mike Coolen, the company's president and chief executive officer, was also voted out.
Jake Harp, one of the company's directors, has been named interim chairman.
Another director, Alex Squires, said the board came to a fundamental disagreement with senior management over the direction the company should take as it seeks to emerge from bankruptcy protection. Management wanted to sell assets; the board wanted to look at other options, including a $60-million financing deal suggested by one of its largest shareholders.
Mr. Noval, a storied Calgary oilman whose departure has been called for since last September by that shareholder, California-based Palo Alto Investors, accused the board of stealing the company away.
"It's my personal opinion that the directors that created this event are kidnapping the company, and that they're working with some of the dissident shareholders," Mr. Noval said in an interview yesterday morning.
Mr. Noval was the force behind Canadian 88 Energy Corp., a company he grew from a $200,000 investment to a peak valuation of more than $600-million.
Canadian Superior, his follow-up effort, has a 45-per-cent interest in a natural gas find off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago, at an offshore lease known as "Intrepid" Block 5(c), which could contain as much as four trillion cubic feet of gas, equal to 10 per cent of Alberta's current gas reserves.
But the company ran into financial troubles after experiencing significant cost overruns with three very deep wells and filed for bankruptcy protection on March 5.
In a bid to raise money, Mr. Noval worked with investment bankers at Scotia Waterous to line up several firm offers for part of its Intrepid stake, and was set to bring them before the board last Friday. But, Mr. Noval said, the board was not interested.
"They would not even look at them," he said. "They tabled a resolution to basically put another order of business in front of everything ... [that]was to basically have me step down as executive chairman and Mike Coolen to leave as president and CEO."
Mr. Squires said the dispute came down to the board deciding that Mr. Noval had a conflict of interest with Challenger Energy Corp., a company Mr. Noval also founded and continues to hold significant shares in. Challenger, which has also won a 25-per-cent interest in the Intrepid block, has run into even greater financial problems than Canadian Superior, which it now owes nearly $50-million (U.S.).
Mr. Noval denied the conflict allegations.
"I own a few shares in that company [Challenger]and that's it," he said. "I'm just a shareholder sitting on the side like everybody else."
It, too, is attempting to raise money by selling part of its ownership in the Intrepid block. Challenger's stake is considered more valuable when combined with Canadian Superior's stake, since it offers a buyer a larger share.
Mr. Squires said the board concluded that in Mr. Noval's efforts to sell part of Canadian Superior's stake, "the major interest seems to be getting Challenger out from under its mess," he said. "That would be probably the major thing that united all the independent directors."
Canadian Superior (SNG)
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Nathan VanderKlippe