KKR duo’s riches
Du Plessis to take role as door revolves at Marks
MARKS and Spencer’s deputy chairman Sir David Michels is leaving the board – the third high-profile departure from the retailer in as many weeks.
Michels, whose retirement was announced last May, will step down on Wednesday to be succeeded as senior independent director by Jan du Plessis, the chairman of Rio Tinto.
The change at the High Street group comes after a turbulent period that has seen two senior executives quit. There has been speculation that another recently threatened to leave.
Recent departures include Susan Aubrey-cound, responsible for finding ways to use new technology across the group, who left the group this week after 11 years’ service.
Her exit came less than two weeks after brand director Alison Jones, who was recruited by M&S chief executive Marc Bolland, quit her non-board post after less than a year.
Last week it was reported that Laura Wade-gery, the director responsible for online sales, was on the verge of resigning because her remit wasn’t large enough. However, the firm strongly denied the report.
Suggestions that Wade-gery was unsettled came less than a year after she was poached from Tesco. Last November M&S denied that clothing and home furnishings boss Kate Bostock was about to join rival ASOS.
A spokesman l ast night stressed du Plessis, who moves up from his position as nonexecutive director on Thursday, will not have responsibility for ‘junior’ director appointments.
They said news of Michels’ retirement was unrelated to other recent exits from the company. Michels, a former Hilton chairman, joined the M&S board in 2006, and during his tenure as vice chairman and senior independent director was responsible for bringing in Bolland as chief executive.
Michels still chairs wealth manager London & Capital and sits on the boards of Sheikh Mohammed’s Jumeirah hotels, Prince Alwaleed’s Savoy group and America’s Strategic Hotels and Resorts.
He will retire from M&S to manage his own company, Michels & Taylor, which runs asset management services for a swathe of hotels.
M&S chairman Robert Swannell said: ‘On behalf of the M&S Board, I would like to thank David for his great commitment and contribution to M&S.’
He added: ‘We are delighted that Jan has agreed to succeed David as senior independent director.’
The position of vice chairman will no longer exist.
Shares rose 6.7p to 360.1p. THE duo at the top of global private equity group KKR pocketed £120m between them last year, in a dazzling display of the vast wealth on offer to the world’s buyout barons. KKR – whose UK investment include Alliance Boots and Pets At Home – paid co-founder Henry Kravis and George Roberts around £19m apiece.
The co-founders also earned more than £40m each in dividends on their stakes of 25pc. The payouts come amid mounting debate in the US over whether to end the beneficial tax treatment enjoyed by private equity firms. KKR’S aggressive takeover of RJR Nabisco in 1988 was the subject of the book and film Barbarians At The Gate.
KKR also said it was co-operating with an US Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into dealings by sovereign wealth funds.