George Kerr takes over Pyne Gould management as Duncan exits

Thursday 26th April 2012

Pyne Gould Corp’s biggest shareholder, George Kerr, will take over running the wealth management firm after managing director John Duncan signalled his exit today.

Duncan has “decided to move on to new challenges” and has tendered his resignation from the company and any subsidiaries he’s a director of with immediate effect, PGC said in a statement.

He also intends to step down from the board of Equity Partners Infrastructure Co as PGC’s representative.

In 2009, Duncan was tapped to head up PGC’s Perpetual Asset Management unit after a 15 year career with Macquarie Group. The unit managed all of PGC’s funds, including the Torchlight fund which specialised in squeezing value from distressed assets.

Kerr, whose Australasian Equity Partners No 1 LP (AEP) venture with US hedge fund Baker Street Capital took control of PGC earlier this year, will take on the managing director role. AEP secured 76 percent of the company in a 37-cents-per-share takeover bid that closed last month.

Kerr argued the company’s profile has changed since its divestment of its Marac finance unit last year, and it won’t be paying dividends any time soon as it takes time to realise its remaining assets.

In February Michael Tinkler and Russell Naylor were appointed to PGC’s board.

PGC’s shares were unchanged at 35 cents today, 2 cents below the AEP takeover offer.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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