Ohanessian was chief executive of Preamium for five and a half years before his contract was terminated in February 2017.
At the time, the board said that a chief executive with a different skillset would better service the company’s leadership needs for the next phase of its growth and development.
Unwilling to go quietly, Ohanessian and a group of shareholders collectively holding more than 17% of Praemium, notified the board on 15 March that they wanted to arrange a general meeting.
His intent is to remove Camm along with three other directors, along with anyone appointed as a director on or after 14 March.
In a letter to shareholders on Tuesday, Camm confirmed that a meeting will take place on 12 May in Melbourne, Australia.
Camm wrote that the board’s unanimous recommendation was to vote against the eight resolutions proposed by Ohanessian and other shareholders.
Tensions rise
Camm provided greater detail surrounding Ohanessian’s departure in his letter on Tuesday.
“I joined the board in October 2016, and was appointed chairman in November 2016. I was recruited to replace the outgoing chairman. During the recruitment process, I was advised that I would be the third chairman during Mr Ohanessian’s five-and-a-half-year term as chief executive officer, and that there were difficulties between he and the board, which had been ongoing for some lengthy time, and were getting worse.”
Adding that he had gone into the situation “with an open mind, determined to improve the relationship”, Camm said “it became clear from the outset that Mr Ohanessian was not willing to make the changes in his behaviour necessary to effect this improvement”.
“The situation came to a head in early January 2017 when he presented me with a lengthy document which indicated that he would refuse, or strongly resist, a number of requests the board had made of him.
“He followed this by berating me in a heated and aggressive manner for 90 minutes about the failings of the other directors, individually and collectively,” Camm added.
He said that other directors indicated that such behaviour from Ohanessian was a common occurrence when he “was not getting his own way”.
