1/8/2026
Palace Capital Calls Shareholder Meeting but Blasts Lakestreet’s Attack on Chair as “Misleading”
QuotedData (01/08/2026) Lumsden, Gavin
Palace Capital (PCA) has hit back at Lakestreet Capital Partners’ move to oust its executive chair Steven Owen, accusing the Swiss investment company of exhibiting “clear misunderstandings” of the UK property business. While confirming it would convene the general meeting requisitioned by its 22.5% shareholder, Palace Capital said Lakestreet’s announcement this week that it wanted shareholders to vote Owen off the board contained “inaccurate and misleading” comments about his pay. Owen earned over £217,000 in salary and benefits in the 2025 financial year but to compare his remuneration with the fees paid to the board’s previous directors, as Lakestreet had done, was misleading, Palace Capital said, as these had all been non-executive roles. The £42 million company said since the former non-exec chair Owen took on executive control in the summer of 2022 when Palace Capital began a managed wind-down, the costs of its board had been cut significantly. Owen, a former chair of Primary Health Properties (PHP), was supported by just one senior independent director, Mark Davies, currently PHP’s chief executive. “The company has made significant progress to date on reducing administrative expenses as the portfolio reduces in size following disposals. The company has closed its head office and reduced its headcount from an average of seven directors and nine employees for the year ending March 2022 to two directors and two employees. Directors’ fees have also been reduced significantly as a consequence,” it stated. Rebutting Lakestreet’s accusation that Owen was effectively gouging value from shareholders while slowly selling the company’s assets, Palace Capital said under his watch the company had sold £160 million of properties, repaid £95.4 million of debt, and returned over £64 million to shareholders through two tender offers, dividends, and share buybacks. It pointed out the £41.3 million portfolio held five investment properties, not the two cited by Lakestreet, although two assets in Halifax and Leamington Spa were under offer and a third in Exeter was expected to go under offer in a few weeks’ time. The two remaining assets in Northampton and Newcastle required the completion of asset management activities to make them attractive to potential purchasers, it said. The company retained nine apartments in York’s Hudson Quarter, valued at £4.2 million, with two under offer. Basel-based Lakestreet emerged on Palace Capital’s shareholder register in October with a 7.4% direct stake, which it lifted to 20.9% in November after buying most of the 19.7% holding of Swedish businessman Pehr Gyllenhammar who died that month. In December it reduced the position to 16.2% as two members of co-founder Valentin Pierburg bought shares. Pierburg and co-founder Christian Kappelhoff-Wulff want to replace Owen on the board but say they have no interest in appointing their firm as fund manager. They offered to withdraw the requisition if Owen agreed to complete the disposal of the Newcastle and Northampton properties for a fixed fee of £40,000 and waive his “outrageous” 12-month notice period, which Palace Capital said was standard for executive directors. Palace Capital denied another Lakestreet claim that Owen had moved the company’s financial year-end from March to September to avoid embarrassment over his pay, which is expected to hit £720,000 this year as a result of a maturing equity incentive plan. The firm said the move was aimed at cutting auditing and reporting costs, pointing out that shareholders had shown their support of Owen and the wind-down during a difficult property market with around 95% of annual votes in favor of his continuation in the past two years. A circular for the general meeting will be published in due course, it said.
Read the article