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GPG's Brierley may respond to shareholders next week

By Jenny Ruth

Wednesday 18th August 2010 1 Comment

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Guinness Peat Group chairman Sir Ron Brierley may respond as early as next week to concerns expressed by institutional investors and the New Zealand Shareholders' Association at a confidential meeting on Tuesday.

"I would expect it will probably be next week, but there's no specific timetable," says NZ Shareholders' Association president John Hawkins.

While those attending the meeting agreed to keep what was discussed confidential, it is well known investors are unhappy with proposals so far to restructure GPG. It is also likely potential independent directors were discussed.

After sacking former New Zealand-based director Tony Gibbs in June after he publicly disagreed with restructuring plans, Brierley said GPG would seek to appoint up to three independent directors who would then review a proposed split off of the Australian assets.

Asked how confidentiality about what was discussed at the meeting squares with the stock exchange's continuous disclosure rules and the principle of equal access among shareholders to information, Hawkins says nothing definite has been agreed to yet.

"We don't think we've got anything to disclose. At the moment, there's been some discussion, there's been some exchange of information and GPG has gone away to think about it," Hawkins says.

He says it's important not to second-guess possible outcomes.

GPG shares closed down 1 cent at 66 cents today and have fallen about 10% in the last three months. Guy Hallwright, an analyst at Forsyth Barr, estimates the shares' net asset value at the end of last week was $1.10.

Comments from our readers

On 19 August 2010 at 11:04 am Antoni said:

I have lost faith in the NZX as a sharemarket regulator. I cant believe that these fund managers can get private access to the company. How do the rest of know if they arent being given answers to their questions before the market so they can sell their shares in what is turning out to be a dog of a company? I will sell off my shares soon to pay down my mortgage and I doubt I will be coming back to this dishonest market. Perception is reality.

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