Laxey renews battle with Ritblat over dual role at British Land

British Land's annual general meeting will again see the chairman John Ritblat's position put to a shareholder vote, the company conceded yesterday, while throwing out other rebel resolutions.

The property giant lashed out at Laxey Partners, which had lodged six resolutions for the AGM, to be held in July, after the three controversial proposals it put to last year's meeting.

In a letter addressed to Laxey and released to the stock market, British Land said: "We do not believe that your continuing public campaign is either helpful or positive for the company's standing with its investors, tenants, bankers, joint venture partners, staff or the public at large."

Laxey, led by Colin Kingsnorth, has been critical of British Land's performance and tried to force the company into large-scale share buybacks. It has also attacked the position of Mr Ritblat, the chairman and chief executive. Laxey's proposals got about 7 per cent of the votes cast at last year's AGM but, despite that defeat, it has continued to agitate for change.

British Land wrote to Laxey: "We are disappointed that since then [the 2002 AGM] you have failed to take advantage of the opportunity first to debate your theories with the company directly but instead have continued to conduct a personalised solo campaign, largely through the newspapers."

Since lodging the resolutions for this year's AGM, Laxey has withdrawn one, relating to share buybacks, and another resolution is just a duplicate. British Land yesterday declared that it had sought legal advice and three others were not valid as they "trespass upon the proper functions of the board".

These resolutions sought to force the company to split the role of the chairman and chief executive and to make British Land liquidate its assets under certain circumstances. Only one Laxey proposal, which would remove Mr Ritblat as a company director , will be put to the AGM.

Laxey said that British Land "is seeking to avoid debating issues of substance with its shareholders at the AGM based on legal technicalities".