A controversial options package caused internal discord at crypto company Harmonychain when it was launched last spring. This prompted technology director, major shareholder and board member Christian Rustad to take his own company to the conciliation council. In a stock exchange announcement on Monday afternoon, it appears that Rustad won the complaint. There it is:
“The decision of the general meeting in Harmonychain AS in point 8 of the minutes of the general meeting is invalid.”
Item eight of last year’s general meeting contains a larger discussion about the allocation of 42 million options, which called for the amount of the company’s shares to be increased by 25 percent.
A full three-quarters of the options were originally intended for four key people in the company:
- The then chairman of the board, Bjørn Zachrisson, was awarded 15 million options.
- CEO Ola Stene-Johansen, then board representative Tore Sviland and CFO Ben Miklozek were awarded 5.7 million options each.
Harmonychain’s stock market value is a whopping NOK 111 million, and the company’s two largest shareholders are Rustad and Zachrisson. They have just under 20 percent of the shares each.
Reacted
Rustad reacted to the award and appealed the option award last summer. The complaint followed a lengthy dispute between the board and its leader Zacharisson on the one hand and Rustad on the other. This feud revolved around, among other things, Rustad’s bonuses.
In the notice to the general meeting in April, Harmonychain made a number out of the fact that Rustad – as the only one of the company’s senior employees or board members – already has a “special bonus agreement”.
On Monday afternoon, DN was unable to get in touch with Rustad. In a short comment, Zachrisson says that he will not comment on the matter, and points out that he no longer sits on the company’s board.
Plunged onto the stock exchange
Rustad is one of Harmonychain’s founders. The company’s business idea is to develop a computer chip that will mine the cryptocurrencies Dogecoin and Litecoin in a more efficient way than current technology, DN has previously been informed. However, the company has been affected by a long series of delays.
As recently as February, the company reported that it needed replenishment of capitalwhen it emerged that Harmonychain “does not have sufficient finances” to start production of a type of miner even if the company’s prototype were to prove to work in the second quarter.
The company has had a number of celebrity investors on the ownership side, but most have later disappeared. NHH professor and financial guru Thore Johnsen was until recently still on the board. Today’s board consists of completely new members, including Rustad, and is led by Yngve Johansen Bolstad.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and/or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using links, which lead directly to our pages. Copying or other forms of use of all or part of the content may only take place with written permission or as permitted by law. For further terms see here.
