Bramson in battle for new blood at Electra

ACTIVIST investor Ed Bramson has launched a fresh assault on the private equity owner of TGI Fridays, attacking its poor investment performance and the independence of its board.

In an open letter to shareholders, Bramson described the corporate governance at London-listed Electra Private Equity as ‘deficient’.

The tycoon claimed that Electra’s share price has performed poorly for years until January 2014 when he started building a 30pc stake, making him its largest shareholder.

Bramson, who takes minority stakes in firms and then tries to push for change, is concerned that Electra’s board oversees Electra Partners, the subsidiary that has the contract to run its investments.

He believes an independent board would be more willing to ditch Electra Partners for poor investment performance and find an alternative fund manager.

It marks the latest twist in a bitter feud between Bramson’s Guernseybased Sherbourne Investors Management and Electra.

For more than a year, Bramson has been trying to secure a seat on Electra’s board. He was rebuffed last October when only 11pc of Electra’s shareholders backed him.

Having added to his stake since then, he has insisted Electra stage another vote on installing him and Ian Brindle, the former chairman of accountant PWC. The vote will take place on November 5. Electra said earlier this month that Bramson’s presence on the board would ‘potentially be divisive’.

But Bramson ( pictured) said: ‘The hostile reactions of the investment manager and the board seem disproportionate to a proposal by a long-term shareholder to nominate a small minority of qualified directors to Electra’s board.’

Roger Yates, chairman of Electra Private Equity, said: ‘Sherborne is an activist investor with a short-termist track record focused on cost-cutting: today’s letter does nothing to change that.’