Nagle 'threatened to quit'

FORMER PAYZONE chief executive John Nagle told shareholders yesterday that he had threatened to resign last year if Balderton Capital, its biggest investor, appointed Irishman Barry Maloney as its board representative.

This emerged yesterday in Mr Nagle's personal statement at an extraordinary general meeting (egm) in Dublin convened to remove him from his post.

The Irish Times obtained a copy of Mr Nagle's statement from a shareholder who attended the egm.

In it, Mr Nagle said: "I had lost confidence in Mr Maloney and had determined that, in the interests of the shareholders and of Payzone, I could not serve with him on the board of any company. I told him and Balderton that I would not accept the position of chief executive of Payzone if he was on its board. They accepted that Mr Maloney should not be appointed.

"Mr Maloney made clear to me that he nursed a deep grievance against me as a result of this, and promised that I would live to regret it."

Mr Nagle and Mr Maloney had served together on the board of electronic payments group Alphyra from 2003. Balderton owned 67 per cent of Alphyra.

Mr Nagle said the breakdown in his relationship with Mr Maloney spanned more than two years. During this time a number of indicative offers of more than €500 million were received but rejected.

In September 2006, it was agreed to allow Goldman Sachs to raise up to €100 million but this was cancelled by Mr Maloney at an "advanced stage". Alphyra merged with British ATM operator Cardpoint in early December 2007.

Mr Maloney was not present at yesterday egm.