Elliott Advisors maintains that chairman Antony Burgmans should be forced out as a result of the Dutch firm's refusal to enter takeover talks with US rival PPG Industries. A petition filed with the Dutch Enterprise Chamber by Elliott claimed Mr Burgmans had not discharged his duties after Akzo rejected three offers from PPG with but some shareholders - including Elliott - backing the bid. However, Mr Burgmans and chief executive Ton Buchner claim that the bid undervalues Akzo. The most recent offer was rejected only on Monday -  worth €26.9 billion.

Attack

Elliott, which holds a 3.25 per cent stake in Akzo, had teamed up with other like-minded investors to request an extraordinary meeting to vote on a proposal to remove Mr Burgmans. However, the company responded by reporting Elliott and PPG to Dutch regulators for possibly sharing potentially ‘sensitive’ information with PPG regarding support for the meeting.

'enforce the rights' of shareholders

Now Elliott is seeking to 'enforce the rights' of shareholders to hold the meeting. It said: ‘Elliott views Akzo Nobel's rejection of PPG's third proposal without entering into any constructive form of engagement with PPG as a flagrant breach of Akzo Nobel's boards' fiduciary duties and of Dutch corporate law, and as an arrogant dismissal of recognised principles of proper corporate governance.’ It added: ‘Akzo Nobel's boards continue to demonstrate a disturbing and inexplicable tendency to act in their own, self-entrenching interests and against the interests of shareholders and other stakeholders.’

Removal would be 'damaging'

However, the move has been opposed by Akzo which has said that the removal of Mr Burgmans would be ‘irresponsible, disproportionate, damaging and not in the best interest of the company, its shareholders and other stakeholders.' Elliott became an Akzo shareholder in December.