Busy man...David Gonski is the chairman of the ASX and Coke. Illustration Rocco Fazzari.
Michael Evans asks the hard questions in the mirror each morning.
AS QUESTIONS are asked about Trevor Rowe’s corporate directorships since his departure as the head of Queensland Investment Corporation, it’s useful for a chairman to have some relevant experience as he considers the merits of his fellow directors.
Take David Gonski, the chairman of the ASX, where he shares the table with Big Trev. Gonski is also the chairman of Coca-Cola Amatil.
And as we noted here a while back, Coke quietly extended the contract of its boss Terry Davis in December while the company was fending off a takeover by Lion Nathan but overlooked telling the market until it released its annual report in April.
Good thing then that Gonski does double duties as the chairman of the ASX, meaning he was all over the issue – even if he does have a market supervision board to look after the fine print.
Actually, the Gonski-led ASX asked the Gonski-led Coke to lift its socks after we asked the ASX if Coke’s disclosure was OK.
As it happens, Gonski also chairs the board of trustees of Sydney Grammar School, sharing the table with a chap named Gordon Fell.
The Rubicon banana disappeared from the boards of Opera Australia and The Smith Family following the collapse of the Allco empire after its related party transaction selling his Rubicon delivered him the millions to buy a Point Piper waterfront.
Elsewhere, high-profile directors at collapsed companies including Allco, ABC Learning and Babcock & Brown quit trophy boards after their corporate malaise.
But the Grammar trust still has a seat at the table for Fellsy. Even if Gordy has ‘‘stood aside from his position as a trustee of the school for the time being’’, he remains a director.
Turning full circle
Where have we heard this before?
Paint powerhouse Wattyl has announced that Tony Dragicevich will succeed John Nolan as managing director later this year, spruiking his ‘‘turnaround’’ capabilities.
Odd that after his appointment to the top job in 2005, Nolan himself was in full ‘‘turnaround’’ mode. ‘‘It is a very good business in turnaround mode,’’ Nolan pointed out as he drummed up support for the business.
Perhaps the business has simply turned around so much it’s gone full circle.
Still, checking out Nolan’s report card, one can point to a host of achievements – including a memorable near last place in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race while his company was under takeover. Oh, and a rather hefty share price fall.
In 2005, while he was somewhere off Cape Barren Island in Bass Strait – without a satellite phone – Nolan could reasonably have hoped he could enjoy the scenic trip to Hobart, until Allco Equity and Barloworld found themselves scrapping onshore.
The previous year, Nolan’s boat Isabella performed a turnaround of its own, after having to retire in Eden, thanks to heavy seas.
Much to be proud of
UBS is proud of its alumni. Those who have learnt the trade as gnomes only to move on to bigger and better things.
So there’s every chance UBS is especially proud of Ben Keeble, its former executive director of investment banking.
Keeble jumped ship to join those privateering masters of the universe at CVC Asia Pacific a while back, when debt was a cheaper hit than a sugar rush.
A global financial crisis later and we suspect UBS is proud of its boy.
After all, in the latest recapitalisation of tourism concern Stella, it would appear a big swathe of UBS’s debt in the CVC business has been converted to equity. Only problem being it’s worth a wee bit less than it used to be.
And now UBS gets to hold on to equity in a business worth a pittance on what its debt was once worth before trying to re-list it.
How fortunes change
From ten pound Pom to Rich List – to a monster legal bill.
Terry Streeter, the nickel and copper entrepreneur who has appeared in the BRW Rich List in recent years with a fortune of $250 million, has lost a three-year court battle.
A group of Perth businessmen won the battle against Western Areas directors Streeter and David Cooper, with the WA Supreme Court on Friday awarding nearly $65 million to the similarly named but unrelated company, Western Areas Exploration.
WAE had sought a slice of the action after Streeter and Cooper were supposedly presented with a potential nickel opportunity by three geologists.
A little advice …
Apropos our little item yesterday about the funding difficulties facing the Tattersall’s gentlemen’s club, suggestions as to how the club might survive, given that it won’t let women in:
* Hold a drag night;
* Sack the caterers, get the wives to cook;
* Sell tickets to a Benny Hill theme night;
* Allow women to pay fees but still stop them coming in;
* Do a members’ reciprocal rights deal with the Grosvenor Club.
What rumour?
There’s absolutely no truth to suggestions that Commonwealth Bank employees took the day off yesterday to celebrate the ascension of their newly dubbed leader, Sir Ralph of Auckland. There are, however, suggestions that absenteeism was higher than normal, given it was a gazetted bank holiday.
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