Petra director to leave as Monarch stake shrinks

South Africa and Tanzania-focused diamond miner Petra has announced that non-executive director Johannes Bhatt is leaving the board as a result of a reduction in the stake of major shareholder Monarch.

Bhatt has been a director since July 2021 as part of a "nomination agreement" between Petra and Monarch after the latter took a sizeable stake in the miner.

As of January, Monarch had held 8.27% of the voting rights. However, this has since fallen to "below 5" and Monarch therefore loses its right to place a director on the board.

Bhatt has now informed the board of his decision to retire and will leave in November at the time of the company's AGM.

In its corporate governance documents, Petra says that part of the role of non-exec directors is to challenging the opinions of exec director and provide insight in terms of strategic direction, as well as scrutinise the performance of execs in terms of meeting goals and objectives.

"On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Johannes for his contribution to Petra during his tenure as a director and wish him every success in his future endeavours," said Petra's chair Peter Hill.

"He has been an excellent non-executive director who has worked hard to ensure Petra's success and we will miss his contributions."