Corre Energy’s chief executive Keith McGrane has resigned from the troubled company with immediate effect, with chief strategy officer Patrick McClughan assuming the role on an interim basis.
The renewable energy storage developer said Mr McGrane was stepping down to pursue other personal interests. He has served as chief executive since the company floated in Dublin in 2021.
The company said the search to find a permanent successor for the role has started.
It is the latest challenge for Corre, which has seen its share price slide this year amid concerns over funding, board exits and revelations about loans to its founding shareholder, Corre Energy Group Holdings, that had been secured against shares in the listed company.
The company’s founding director Darren Patrick-Green exited in February after being linked by UK revenue officials to a tax avoidance scheme, which he has insisted he was unaware of. It has also secured a €5 million emergency loan in recent weeks, and is currently seeking a strategic investor.
Meanwhile, permit challenges have pushed back an investment decision on the ZW1 project in the Netherlands to after 2027. The company has also encountered challenges with its 320MW Green Hydrogen Hub development in Denmark, and has had issues sourcing enough cavern space.
The move comes five weeks after it emerged that the search for a strategic investor may not conclude until next year. Talks with interested parties had been hampered by financial revelations in August and as the company carried out a review of its key projects, it said on September 30th.
Investment bank Rothschild has been advising the Dublin-listed, but Dutch-based company since April on securing a big external investor. However, delays in securing a strategic investor forced the company to take €5 million in stopgap loans from a group of big existing investors.
Corre said then that while it aims to “finalise a form of investment in 2024, we recognise that, considering the Christmas break, a transaction may not complete until 2025″.
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