But market insiders said on Sunday the fate of three directors -- former member of parliament and Wellington mayor Fran Wilde, Peter Dodd and previous heir apparent for the chairmanship, Richard Longes -- targeted by unhappy shareholders was anyone's guess.

The likelihood was, however, that US Investment house Shamrock Capital Advisers, which holds just two per cent of the stock, would get its way and the three would depart.

But a Shamrock-led rescue plan -- an offer to inject NZ $200 million ($107 million) into the company by way of a capital notes issue -- is not on the aenda for the meeting.

``If I were a betting man, I would be surprised if those directors survive,'' said one market insider, who declined to be identified.``I really do think that Shamrock, and whoever else is backingthem, will be successful in probably removing those three directors,'' he said.

Both the dissenting shareholders and the Brierley board backed Cushing's appointment as chairman.Shamrock, which has the support of 20 per cent shareholder, Malaysia's Camerlin and US Fund Franklin Mutual (5.5 per cent), said it welcomed Cushing to the board.

``Cushing is an experienced New Zealand businessman who will bring strength and stability to the board,'' it said in a statement.

Cushing is a former director of BIL, chairman of its associate Air New Zealand and a close personal friend of BIL founder Ron Brierley. Brierley, who heads up the BIL clone GPG, is known to oppose Shamrock's rescue plan.

Cushing is also expected to be endorsed by BIL directors, including the outgoing chairman, former finance minister Roger Douglas.Camerlin had forced Douglas out as punishment for BIL's woeful investment performance -- primarily his failure to successfully sell its 46 per cent holding in Britain's Thistle Hotels.

``WithCamerlin supporting Shamrock, then a 600 million-vote head start (Camerlin's 20 per cent) is really hard to overcome,'' said one source.BIL has long maintained, since Shamrock's self-styled ``rescue'' package emerged in mid-October, that it had made sufficient progress in asset sales so as not to need help.

Shamrock has not responded to an as yet unpublished counter-offer from BIL.Analysts have also said the pricing of Shamrock's proposed convertible note issue, at NZ$0.36 per note for conversion at NZ$0.45, is too low, especially given BIL's closing price on Friday of NZ$0.50.

But they acknowledged that BIL's recovery from an all time low of NZ$0.30 in October was more to do with the New Zealand market's sharp rally and the ``deal premium'' now built into the stock, than any profound turnaround at BIL.

BIL's problem is that it needs to sell assets -- which range from a substantial stake in Australia's Fairfax to a ranch in Hawaii -- at a time when nobody wants to buy.