New DCHL, DCTL chairman named
THE new head of the Dunedin City Council’s group of companies says the entities are in good heart and Aurora is not for sale.
Keith Cooper — the former chief executive of Silver Fern Farms, experienced company director and current Otago Rugby Football Union chairman — was yesterday named as the new chairman of Dunedin City Holdings Ltd (DCHL) and Dunedin City Treasury Ltd (DCTL).
He replaces former chairman Graham Crombie, who died earlier this month.
News of the appointment came just a day after Mr Cooper (55) replaced Mr Crombie at Tuesday’s full council meeting, answering questions about draft statements of intent which charted the companies’ courses for the next three years.
Aurora’s draft SOI showed no sign of a return to dividend payments to the council over the next three years, as the company continued to reinvest in rebuilding its network.
That prompted Cr Lee Vandervis to question the rationale behind continued council ownership of such companies.
But Mr Cooper, in an interview with the Otago Daily Times yesterday, was emphatic when asked if selling Aurora was on the table. ‘‘No,’’ he said.
Aurora, the company respon sible for an electricity network stretching from Dunedin to Queenstown Lakes, planned to spend $750 million over the next decade catching up on a backlog of deferred maintenance.
As a consequence, dividend and subvention payments had ceased last year, while profit forecasts were cut and debt climbed.
Mr Cooper said yesterday there was no doubt the company had ‘‘an awful lot on its plate’’, but he was also ‘‘pretty confident and pleased’’ with the company’s response to those challenges.
‘‘The fact is it has paid a lot of dividends over the years.
‘‘You can tell a whole long story on whether it should or shouldn’t have, but it has been a successful company.
‘‘It’s going through a catchup phase.
‘‘Fundamentally, it’s a strong business and there’s no doubt in the future, as it returns to dividends, it’s going to be good for the city.’’
He expected dividends would return after the threeyear period covered by the latest SOI.
And, in the meantime, the continuing reinvestment by Aurora meant now was not the right time for any sale, anyway, Mr Cooper said.
Any potential purchaser would consider the ‘‘unknowns’’ still associated with the company’s upgrade programme and lower the price they were prepared to pay accordingly.
Instead, DCHL’s focus was on developing ‘‘more indepth and longerrange thinking’’ about the group’s mix of investments, to ensure the existing businesses were the right fit and delivering, he said.
That could eventually lead to an acquisition or a sale of a particular asset or company, ‘‘if you extrapolate it way out’’, but the focus was on ensuring existing businesses were ‘‘in tiptop shape’’, he said.
‘‘Not everything lasts for ever, so part of our role has been charged with keeping ahead of whatever trends or changes may be forecast.
‘‘Have we got the right things in the stable, and are they best equipped to cope with changing trends?’’
Mr Cooper said the circumstances surrounding his appointment were ‘‘unfortunate’’, but Mr Crombie had helped ensure there were good processes in place, as well as a capable management team and board in place.
‘‘It is very much continuing the work we were doing and the changes Graham was leading,’’ he said.
‘‘This is not someone new coming in . . . there’s very much a continuity of what’s been started.’’