Gulf Keystone Petroleum faces new board exodus

Gulf Keystone Petroleum has awoken to a fresh bedroom crisis, with the exit of three board members just days before its annual shareholder meeting.

Non-executive director V Uthaya Kumar resigned from the board, with fellow non-executives Joseph Stanislaw and Maria Darby-Walker both deciding not to seek re-appointment at the AGM.

According to Sky News, leading City investors in the Kurdistan-focused oiler had told the company they will vote against the re-election of the trio at next week's AGM in Paris.

If this were to happen, it might prevent new chief executive Jón Ferrier from joining the company’s board due to there being too few directors based outside the UK, Sky said.

The three directors were appointed by the previous chairman Simon Murray, the former French Foreign Legionnaire who fell on his corporate sword in April, but were not associated with earlier governance rows at Gulf Keystone.

At least one of them, according to sources cited by Sky, is said to be concerned about the company's governance, .

Boardroom troubles have never been far from GKP in recent years, with rebel investors M&G Investments and Capital Group winning a battle to put four new non-executives on the board in summer 2013, when Murray was appointed amid concerns over corporate governance and former chief executive Todd Kozel’s hefty pay packet. Kozel was outsted a year later.