Shareholder pressure forces Cadiz out
FRANK Cadiz, co-founder of financial services group Cadiz Holdings, has quit amid shareholder pressure over the poor performance of the business he managed.
Mr Cadiz resigned in “early January” and would be available until the end of March to ensure a “smooth handover”, said Andrew Bonamour, nonexecutive director of Cadiz and CEO of Blackstar, which owns a 12% stake in Cadiz.
Mr Cadiz was CE of Cadiz Asset Management, which had assets under management of R45.6bn at March 31 2009. Five years later this had fallen to R26.4bn at the end of September last year after it lost major institutional clients including the Public Investment Corporation.
Reuters reported yesterday Mr Cadiz resigned after a clash with shareholders. It also said that the firm was undergoing restructuring, including retrenchments.
Mr Cadiz has been replaced by Brian Wootton, a nonexecutive director and chartered accountant. Mr Wootton, Mr Bonamour and William Marshall-Smith were appointed to the board in November as representatives of Blackstar Group.
Mr Bonamour, the CEO of Times Media Group, which owns Business Day, said: “The board, in consultation with major share- holders, believed a change (at the top) was required.”
Mr Cadiz, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, and his brother Ray cofounded Cadiz in 1993. As head of equity derivatives, Frank was ranked among the top derivative analysts in the FM Analyst of the Year awards from 1998 to 2002. He had headed asset management since 2004.
A shareholder who does not wish to be named said Mr Cadiz, who has a master’s degree in economics from Oxford, is a “brilliant man” but asset management was not his forté.
Cadiz made a headline loss of R22.5m in the six months to September.
Mr Bonamour said Blackstar “is excited about Cadiz’s potential” given its good platform, “excellent” fixed-income team, “solid” net asset value underpinned by cash holdings and noncore assets.
Cadiz’s share price has declined almost 20% in the past year to 93c.