Brierley faces board axing
A Guinness Peat shareholder revolt is gaining momentum, William Mace reports.
Sir Ron Brierley could be facing his final fortnight on the Guinness Peat Group board if a shareholder revolt against him gathers momentum.
The New Zealand Shareholders’ Association came out against Brierley yesterday saying it considered the veteran director was a ‘‘negative influence’’ on the investment company’s board, and had ignored shareholder concerns.
NZSA chairman John Hawkins said Brierley’s attitude to the company was summed up at last year’s AGM when the 74-year-old slouched in his chair and left the top table before the meeting had finished.
Hawkins called for shareholders to vote against Brierley’s re-election at GPG’S next annual meeting in Auckland on May 24.
Onepath investment manager Mark Brown said he supported the NZSA’S position and would vote against Brierley’s re-election.
His fund has a 4.3 per cent stake in the company.
Brown said his decision related to the cost of having Brierley as a director when the skills required to undertake a wind-up of the company’s assets resided with other directors.
‘‘It is unfortunate, but this is a company in liquidation and one has to address costs and expertise, and if you think you have expertise on the board through someone like Blake Nixon, then I guess the question is whether you need Sir Ron on the board.
‘‘He has historically been, I’d use the term bullied, into a wind-up [of the company] and so perhaps his time and use is over.’’
AMP Capital’s John Phipps was a central figure in the 2010 ousting of Brierley from the chairman’s role at GPG by a group of dissatisfied shareholders, after which new independent directors were appointed and a strategy of an ‘‘orderly’’ selling down of the company’s assets was agreed.
With just under 4 per cent of GPG’S shares, Phipps said he was ‘‘still considering the options’’ on whether to re-elect Brierley.
BT Funds manager Matthew Goodson,