Michael Grade will this morning be asked to step down as chairman of Pinewood Shepperton, the film and television studios group.
Crystal Amber, the activist investment fund, will call for his resignation at the annual meeting, which is due to start at 10.30am at Cazenove's London offices.
The fund, which owns 18% of Pinewood, will also call for the senior independent director, Adrian Burn, to step down. Both Grade and Burn have been on the Pinewood board since the company was acquired in a management buyout from Rank Group in 2000.
Crystal Amber believes that board renewal is now essential to improve the performance of the group, which has seen profits and return on capital fall by more than half in the six years since the business was floated in May 2004.
Richard Bernstein, investment adviser to Crystal Amber, said: "We began investing in Pinewood 18 months ago because we believed there was underlying value in the business that was not fully appreciated by the market.
"We then sought to engage with the board and management in a constructive manner, offering proposals to enhance perceptions of the value in the business. Those proposals centred on creating greater transparency of the costs and profitability of the operating divisions and the value of Pinewood's property assets.
"Although these proposals were initially received well by management, we have seen no action and subsequent meetings with Mr Grade have been unproductive."
Sources: Press Association/Crystal Amber press release
