Next Zamano boss could come from newly acquired company

ZAMANO’S new chief executive “could easily be” from a company it acquires, Zamano acting chairman Colin Tucker told the Sunday Independent.

The Irish-listed mobile phone services company is seeking bolt-on additions as it seeks to reposition itself into higher value areas like digital marketing, on foot of a recently completed strategic review.

Ross Conlon left his role as Zamano chief executive in May, and has taken up the role of managing director of new business ventures at Independent News & Media — the publisher of this newspaper.

“What we’ve done is look at the types of individuals that we might want... we’ve got a CV in our minds,” Tucker said.

“We now understand who it is we need to recruit, and that was the reason we didn’t do an immediate recruitment after the loss of Ross,” he said at the Zamano AGM on Thursday.

“We are in the process of putting together a document to define who it is we want, in line with the strategic review and the sort of businesses we might wish to acquire.”

Tucker said the company would like to appoint a new boss before completing any purchases — but that the new boss could well be from a future addition.

It is already looking at a number of potential acquisition targets, and hopes to complete a deal within six months. Tucker said Zamano envisaged paying via cash and shares as of now.

Tucker said technology entrepreneur Eddie Murphy — who founded web development business Labyrinth, which was acquired by BT — would have an important role in implementing the strategic review’s findings.

Murphy has just joined Zamano as a director. He is also a director of SoHalo, a US-based social media firm with which Zamano has previously considered merging.

The company is also looking for a new chairman after the departure of John Rockett.

“We have a list of potential new chairmen, we started that process before the strategic review and decided to put it on hold, so we have a number of names already considered. We haven’t cut those people out, we’re just waiting to see if they’re going to be appropriate for the new arrangements.”

Zamano was approached by an unnamed firm for a potential takeover last year, but the deal did not proceed because of a disagreement on pricing and payment structure.

Director and former chief executive Pat Landy told shareholders on Thursday that “the intention would be to reposition the business over time, and if people like what we’re doing, we would expect to get further approaches.”