Fermi rebuffs ousted chief’s bid to regain control of board
Fermi has rebuffed a bid from its ousted chief executive to wrest back control of the data-centre giant by gaining a seat on its board.
In a stock exchange filing on Wednesday, the embattled London-listed group accused its defenestrated co-founder, Toby Neugebauer, of trying to pack its board with apparatchiks to regain the reigns at Fermi with a view to selling it “far below its intrinsic value”.
Neugebauer, who co-founded the data-centre group just last year before launching a bumper $19bn (£14bn) dual listing between London and New York in October, had on Tuesday unveiled a shock plan to call a special shareholder vote that sought to reinstate him and several other nominees to the company’s board.
Neugebauer was suddenly ousted earlier this month on conduct grounds, after months of negotiations between the board and its former chief executive.
The entrepreneur was accused of violating “multiple company policies” and the terms of his employment agreement. But his departure was also seen as the product of the firm’s abysmal financial underperformance since its eye-catching pre-revenue float last autumn, since when the company’s share price has fallen some 84 per cent.
In his own statement on Tuesday, Neugebauer accused Fermi directors of blocking his calls for a vote later this month to reinstall him to the company’s board, which he claimed he had requisitioned while still in post as chief executive. He has also called for an immediate sale of the company, which he co-founded with former Texan governor Rick Perry.
Fermi boardroom spat follows financial woes
But in a hastily compiled response, Fermi branded the data centre tycoon’s plans as being counter to shareholders’ interests.”The board is disappointed that Mr Neugebauer has submitted these proposals and is seeking to take control of the board,” it said, “and Fermi, believes the SEC filings reflect the actions of a disgruntled former chief executive who was terminated for cause.”
“Mr Neugebauer’s special meeting request was not valid [and] has been rescinded,” they added.
The response marks a new high-water mark in an escalating feud at Fermi, which listed to great fanfare last year with plans to build the world’s largest data centre near Texas’s Amarillo.
The company was founded on a promise to combine gargantuan amounts of energy and room for huge computing hubs in one space. Initially, the company plans to build out an off-grid gas-powered generator to power the energy-hungry site, before supplementing the fossil-fuel turbines with nuclear power. It also has plans to incorporate solar power into its energy mix.
But it has struggled to build out infrastructure and – after months of negotions – failed to attract a client, despite hyperscaling tech firms’ unprecendented demand for access to computing power and data centres. It has since launched a strategic overhaul dubbed ‘Fermi 2.0’, which contained several personal changes – including the removal of Neugebauer as chief executive – a new governeance code and new offices near its site in Amarillo.
The company added: “Mr Neugebauer’s calls for shareholder action are not in the best interest of shareholders, and they appear purposefully designed to derail any success Fermi 2.0 and the company’s strategic plan might achieve. Fermi encourages its shareholders to support the Board, its officers, and employees in making Fermi 2.0 a success.”