Singapore shipping trust First Ship Lease Trust announced today that it has issued a writ of summons to its former chief executive officer Alan Hatton.
FSL said the writ of summons is for a breach of his duties owed to the company, although did not provide any further details.
Hatton resigned from FSL in February 2017 in an ongoing spat with he company which saw the trust issue Hatton with two show cause notices regarding alleged potential misconduct and breach of duties. FSL listed a series of allegations against Hutton in the show cause notices including his setting up and involvement in another company, disclosure of confidential information to third parties and failing to provide correct information to the board.
Having answered the first show cause notice, in response to the second show cause notice Hatton submitted his resignation on February 2.
Hatton was appointed CEO of FSL Trust in August 2013, turning the fortunes of the company around after it found itself struggling with loan covenants and a series of personnel changes following the exit of the previous CEO Philip Clausius.
Hatton’s departure followed closely after the departure of high profile executives Esben Poulsson and Simon Davidson, with all of them linked to the appointment of Alan Mitchell to the role of CFO.
Poulsson, who is chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping and president of the Singapore Shipping Association, resigned as a board member in September 2016 because of several disagreements with chairman Tim Reid and certain independent directors over the “process in HR matters.”
In November 2016, lawyer Davidson was the next to quit the FSL board, directly blaming the “haste” of the CFO appointment for his departure.
Roger Woods has since replaced Hatton as CEO of FSL, while Hatton has moved on and is now a director at Foreguard Shipping.
