Rebels oust Gresham chairman

REBEL shareholders in one of Ireland's largest hotels companies, Gresham, scored a major victory in their long-running campaign to take over the group when they ousted the joint chairman and three other directors.

Red Sea Hotels, an Israeli investment group that owns 28% of Gresham, has now driven a total of seven senior directors from the board in the past two months.

At an extraordinary general meeting on Thursday chairman Sean Henneberry, Patrick Bourke, David Bunworth and Laura Magahy all lost their seats on the board. Red Sea and its supporters voted in Amos Pickel, chief executive of Red Sea, Tom Byrne and Harvey Soning.

On Tuesday the Gresham board made its chief executive Patrick Coyle joint chairman as a precaution.

Gresham, which owns the Gresham Hotel in Dublin and the Gresham Hyde Park in London, has accused Red Sea of trying to take the company over by the back door.