A group of shareholders in Harland and Wolff have requested an extraordinary general meeting “with immediate effect.”
The call comes as a potential investor in the shipyard has told the Belfast Telegraph that the company is “slowly dying.”
There has been a great deal of speculation about the future of the famous shipping company in the past month after it failed to secure a government guarantee for a £200m loan.
The government explained their refusal by saying there was a “very substantial risk that taxpayer money would be lost.”
The company’s CEO John Wood resigned and was replaced by an interim executive chair Russell Downs.
Former Harland & Wolff chief executive John Wood (PA)
Harland and Wolff has since agreed new loans with existing creditors, and employed Rothschild to “assess strategic options.”
The turmoil has continued this week, as an Australian businessman with a declared interest in buying the firm called for it to be investigated by the government.
Australian tycoon Clive Palmer wants to build “Titanic II”, and has made an offer to buy the shipyard which built the original ship.
Mr Palmer has called for a public inquiry and accused the company of not looking after the best interests of it’s shareholders.
The call for the company and board of directors to hold an extraordinary meeting came in a letter delivered yesterday.
The letter states that the “purpose of the meeting is to call for the appointment of a Non-Executive Director to sit with the Board of Directors to represent the interests of shareholders.
The letter is signed by Mr Philip Hyde, the Michael Dawe Family Trust, Tom Dobell (on behalf of Sankofa Investment Partners) and Dominic Pemberton (on behalf of Credo Group Holdings).
Meanwhile, billionaire Michael Flacks has told the Belfast Telegraph that he believes Harland and Wolff is “slowly dying”
Mr Flacks had previously expressed an interest in purchasing the Belfast portion of the company. He also provided his first public response to reporting in German outlet Handelsblatt which raised concerns over how he ran several companies.
Mr Flacks denies all the allegations, and said he has initiated legal proceedings.
A spokesman for Harland & Wolff said: “We have had interest from many parties, all of which are commercially sensitive. “We will not be in a position to comment on any of them until such a time as Rothschild has completed its review process.”