Shareholders told to say no
ENGINEERING and maintenance firm Downer EDI says it has lifted its interest in takeover target Spotless Group to nearly 30 per cent as Spotless continues to urge its shareholders to reject Downer’s offer.
Downer yesterday said it now had an interest of 29.598 per cent in facilities services provider Spotless.
It is offering $ 1.15 for each Spotless share, valuing Spotless at $ 1.3 billion. Downer intends to waive the defeating conditions to its offer and introduce accelerated payment terms if it achieves an interest of at least 50 per cent in Spotless by June 16 and if no defeating condition has been breached. Spotless’s board has told shareholders they will be better off if they keep their shares as the company resets its strategy to boost earnings growth. Spotless said it was showing positive momentum and again recommended that shareholders reject Downer’s current offer. A POSSIBLE solution to the east coast gas crisis has been hampered by government intervention, Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher says.
With fears growing that east coast manufacturers will be short of gas this winter unless the LNG industry diverts gas exports to local users, Mr Gallagher said government intervention had distracted attention away from the underlying causes of the problem.
“We are being asked to believe that high prices and shortages in supply are the fault of the LNG exporters while at the same time state and territory governments have either banned or restricted gas exploration and production,” he said. THE campaign for gender diversity in corporate Australia has suffered a setback this year, with the number of female appointments to ASX 200 boards down heavily on a year ago.
The challenge is laid bare in a quarterly update by the Australian Institute of Company Directors, which reveals the target of achieving 30 per cent female representation in the boardrooms of the nation’s top 200 listed companies by 2018 could be slipping out of reach.
The report, released today, shows the monthly rate of female appointments dipped to 30 per cent across the five months to May, down from 44 per cent last year.
That equates to 17 women appointed compared to 40 men so far this year. To hit the 2018 target, 70 females would need to take the positions currently occupied by men.
AICD chair Elizabeth Proust said the issue was one of demand rather than supply, with research consistently pointing to 30 per cent representation as the point at which businesses achieve better outcomes.
“We’re still heading in the right direction. Many companies have got to the 30 per cent target but this year there’s been a significant reduction in appointees,” Ms Proust said.
She said enlisting women and men in the discussion was important, with former Aurizon chief Lance Hockridge noting that recruitment policies at the rail freight company that were “apparently gender- neutral” were largely being implemented by men. As such, there was a “powerful inertia toward perpetuating the status quo”, he said.
Others are taking a blunter approach. The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, which collectively manages more than $ 450 billion in assets, has vowed to vote against the reinstatement of directors on all- male boards at this year’s annual meeting season.
“What they’re saying is boards without diversity are ones we don’t want to endorse. It’s controversial but it will be interesting when they start to do that, when we get to the AGM season, to see what the company’s response is,” Ms Proust said.
While 71 companies on the benchmark index have hit the 30 per cent target – none more so than Fortescue Metals and Medibank Private, which each boast five female board members – there are 64 which have just one female director and 13 with none.
These include $ 9.6 billion construction giant Cimic, $ 3.9 billion telco TPG Telecom and $ 3.3 billion logistics group Qube.
Embattled infant formula maker Bellamy’s Australia is also on the list, although it will be purged from the top 200 on Tuesday following a tumultuous year in which its shares have plunged on the back of challeng- ing conditions market.
Launa Inman resigned as a director of Bellamy’s ahead of a push for boardroom renewal in February that would have seen her voted out, while accountant Patria Mann, who survived the vote, resigned last month.
Encouragingly, some are making positive noises. Flight Centre, which lost non- executive director Cassandra Kelly earlier this year after she moved to the US, has “committed to appointing a new female director”, according to a spokesman.
A Qube spokesman said the company was undergoing board renewal following a significant growth phase.
“Qube is committed to appointing directors and employees on the basis of merit and takes into account broad issues of diversity including gender diversity,” the spokesman said.
Cimic declined to comment when approached, while TPG did not respond before deadline. in its key Chinese