Brisbane-based fund manager Cromwell has lost its chairman and two other directors, with the remaining board to face a spill after its antagonistic major investor, ARA Asset Management, pushed to gain potential control of the board during the shareholders' annual meeting.

London-based chairman Leon Blitz, deputy chairman Andrew Fay and director John Humphrey were rejected at the meeting in which the powerful Singaporean investment house used its 29.8 per cent stake to dominate proceedings. Another large shareholder, Singapore's Tang Group, is expected to have supported those moves.