Aegean: Investor Group Names Former Glencore, Tesoro Men Among New Director Nominees

The election will take place at Aegean's annual meeting of shareholders later this year.

A group of shareholders calling for change in the management structure of global bunker player Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. [NYSE: ANW] (Aegean) today formally nominated its four independent candidates for election to the Company's Board of Directors at its 2018 annual meeting of shareholders.

As previously reported by Ship & Bunker, the group, led by Tyler Baron of Sentinel Rock Capital who is also one of the four nominees, consists of five shareholders representing around 12% of Aegean's shares.

Last month they publicly criticised the company for what they say is an unacceptable fall in the company's share price and are seeking change as a result.

The other nominees are Raymond Bartoszek, Donald Moore, and David Kirshner.

In highlighting the credentials of the nominees, the Group noted Bartoszek has over 20 years of experience as an oil trader specializing in the supply of marine bunker fuels to global shipping companies, first at Texaco and then at Glencore Ltd where he held a number of senior management positions including Managing Director and head of its oil department.

Kirshner was said to have more than 30 years of management experience in the fuels industry, most recently as Chairman and CEO of Axeon Specialty Products LLC and previously Senior Vice President of Commercial at Tesoro Corporation where he managed teams that traded and marketed bunker fuels. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Supply, Trading, and Transportation at Hess Corporation where he also focused on the supply and trading of bunker fuels, prior to which he spent 23 years at Mobil Corporation and then ExxonMobil Corporation.

Moore, meanwhile, was said to have over 40 years of experience in the financial services industry at Morgan Stanley, most recently as Chairman of Morgan Stanley Group (Europe) and as Global Chairman of the Financial Institutions Group from 2013-2016.

Baron was said to have more than 15 years of experience in the financial services and investment management industry, and is a former Partner at Spring Point Capital, a $1.5B hedge fund based in San Francisco.

"We believe that our slate of highly qualified director nominees is perfectly tailored for the challenges and opportunities that Aegean faces today, and that the election of fresh Board members with this level of diverse and global expertise would represent a dramatic enhancement to the Company's present corporate governance," Baron told Ship & Bunker.

"We continue to see significant value in Aegean's fuel distribution network, and while there is much work to be done, believe the optionality and strategic importance of this network will only grow as the industry approaches the significant changes brought by IMO 2020 regulations less than two years away."