Drake & Scull International's chairman resigns

Dubai: The chairman of Drake & Scull International, the financially troubled engineering firm, has resigned. Obaid Bin Touq put in his papers along with another board member, Khamis Buamim, DSI said in a statement on Dubai Financial Market.

This leaves the company without a chairman, a group CEO and chief financial officer within a matter of a few days. DSI is to hold a shareholders meeting on Tuesday morning, and it could be that a new chairman, even one in an interim capacity, could be named.

The shareholders’ meet is also expected to take up for discussion a restructuring plan, including the issuance of a sukuk. But it remains to be seen whether fast-moving developments that happened on Thursday and Tuesday’s announcement of Bin Touq’s exit will delay that process.

Last Thursday, the stock market regulator confirmed appointing an external committee to oversee the financial reporting of DSI for the better part of the last 10 years. Other related matters have also been brought under the purview of this committee.

DSI, whose shares remain suspended since November, had reported losses of Dh5 billion plus for 2018.