Tungsten rejects Truell offer as he resigns from board

Payments invoicer Tungsten Corp said on Monday that it has rejected an offer from former chief executive Edi Truell, who has now resigned from the board.

Tungsten said it received an outline of a new transaction from Truell on Saturday, which did not involve an offer for the company’s shares but instead suggested its network business and the cash it expects to receive from the proposed sale of its bank be combined with certain assets in which Truell has a majority interest, including Tantalum.

This would mean Tungsten's primary asset would be a minority stake in an enlarged group of disparate, illiquid assets controlled by Truell while Tungsten itself would become an investment vehicle.

“The board of Tungsten has spent considerable time reviewing these suggestions, including the most recent proposal, and found them to date to be universally without merit for shareholders,” the company said.

It said the strategy set out at Tungsten's Capital Markets Day on 9 February 2016 remained “the best and most certain path to maximise the creation of shareholder value”.

Tungsten added that its priority was to oversee the effective execution of this strategy under the leadership of chief executive officer Richard M. Hurwitz and his executive management team and that “distractions from that risk destroying value”.

At 0810 GMT, Tungsten shares were up 6% to 3.25p.