Faroe Board Members Quit

Three top executives of independent producer Faroe Petroleum have given their notice to resign following the hostile takeover by Norweigan DNO, the company said January 11.

CEO Graham Stewart, CFO Jonathan Cooper and COO Helge Hammer have, "pursuant to the change of control provisions in each of their contracts of employment, given three months’ notice of termination of  their employment with the company."

They also stated their intention to resign from all directorships and other offices which they hold with Faroe and all of its subsidiaries as soon as is practicable, with the intention of remaining as directors until such time as new replacement executive directors are appointed, to ensure an orderly transition, but in any event at the latest by the end of their three month notice periods, Faroe said.

DNO had said it owned, or had acceptances for, 72.8% of the company's shares, as of January 10; Faroe said January 11 that DNO owned or controlled 63.23% of the total. Until the board conceded defeat January 9 it had urged shareholders to reject the offer, which it said undervalued their shares. Some analysts had agreed with that assessment.

But DNO had missed no opportunity to question the value, pointing to a series of negative news items about Faroe's exploration results and to a Norwegian reserves downgrade, making the directors' positions difficult once the outcome of the battle became clear.