Collins & Spencer
THE boardroom at Austock's Melbourne headquarters has one of the better nicknames around town. It's known as ''the graveyard'' among the stockbroking fraternity, an appellation that refers to a wall filled with framed certificates recording deals done for past clients, notably ABC Learning Centres and Timbercorp. Each frame is regarded as a ''tombstone''.
But a little ray of sunshine has arrived to lift the gloom. Austock has appointed former Merrill Lynch Australia boss Paul Masi as its new chief executive and managing director. The listed financial services group saw its share price soar 25 per cent on the news, from 20¢ to 25¢.
A welcome change at the top, but Masi wasn't getting carried away. ''It's flattering, but we are coming off a low base,'' Masi said. ''I never worry about those little things.''
That's a fair call - Austock listed at $1.80 a share back in 2007, which leaves original investors well and truly in the red.
Masi takes over on March 1, while incumbent CEO Tim Boyle will remain as a director in charge of Austock's life insurance and funds management arms. Officially, Boyle is the new chairman of a division called Austock Investments.
Masi uses the euphemism ''legacy issues'' when talking about Austock's dirty laundry, and its role as dedicated broker, adviser and investment bank for both ABC Learning and Timbercorp. ''When you grow with clients, it can be a tremendous strength, but it's damaging when something goes wrong with one of those clients,'' Masi said.
''I think it's a credit to the company that they are still here because, if you look around the world in the past 18 months, there are plenty that have been in a similar position and gone by the wayside. Those legacy issues I have no association with, but I won't ignore them. In the end, you can only play the ball in front of you.''
In his decade with the ''thundering herd'', Masi was appointed head of Australian equities in 2001, co-head of the Australian operation in 2002, and was chief executive of the Australian operation following the acquisition of the global business by Bank of America last year.
A change at the top occurred late last year, with former Goldman Sachs JBWere boss Craig Drummond taking the top job at Merrill.
Masi inherits a much smaller company, but one with a strong net cash position of $18 million.
''This is a different business, and not just in size,'' Masi said. ''This is not a big business, relatively speaking, but the plan is to grow a quality franchise, and see what the business can achieve.
''Clearly I've got a background in overseas and domestic equities, but Austock also has a life-insurance business and an asset management business, which I've had little exposure to. That's why I'm happy that Tim is staying on board.''
Of Austock's equities business, about 80 per cent comes from Melbourne clients and less than 20 per cent is generated in Sydney.
Masi will spend about three days a week in Melbourne - ''You have to be where the clients are'' - but admits that growing the Austock brand in Sydney is higher on the agenda.
Law and disorder
ANYONE wondering where all the business activity is expected this year need only look to the legal fraternity, where chequebooks are out ready to move on opportunities in resources.
Earlier this month global law firm Allen & Overy raided Clayton Utz's banking and corporate advisory teams in Sydney, taking 14 partners, who didn't even call in to say they had gone. They joined three Perth-based mining industry specialists. Allen & Overy has now revealed its intention to muscle in on the growing mergers and acquisitions market in this part of the world. Cross-border mining deals between Australia and China are high on its agenda, and the firm is hiring associates.
Corrs Chambers Westgarth has also made a move, raiding a team of corporate M&A Partners in Perth. The area of expertise? The resources sector, of course.
Corrs announced that Robert Franklyn, Christian Owen and Russell Philip had joined as partners, to ''strengthen the firm's expertise in the resources sector''.
Franklyn is the former head of Freehills' M&A team in Perth, who left in 2004 to establish Franklyn Legal. Owen and Philip joined Franklyn Legal in 2005.
The trio advised on the proposed $3 billion merger of Murchison Metals and Midwest Corporation, and deals involving Mineral Securities, including the move to become a British Virgin Islands-based company, its merger with British-listed Scarborough Minerals and subsequent merger with CopperCo.
Mind you, as The Age's Garimpeiro rightly points out, when have lawyers ever been a leading economic indicator?
