Tower appoints new chairman

By NZPA

Wednesday 19th February 2003

Tower has appointed Melbourne-based director Olaf O'Duill as chairman to replace Colin Beyer, who retired from the post today.

Mr Beyer will continue to serve as director, and will stand for re-election for that position at the annual meeting on March 27, the company said in a statement.

Mr Beyer has been on the board since 1989 and signalled his intention earlier this month to quit the position, saying he had been considering the move for some time.

Mr O'Duill was appointed to the Tower board in 2000. Tower has been without a chief executive since James Boonzaier left under a cloud in July.

Acting chief executive Keith Taylor has been appointed to the board as an executive director until the company finds a permanent group chief executive.

Also retiring at the AGM will be directors Colin Maiden and Lindsay Cuming.

Tower directors said today they supported a shareholder proposal to elect to the board Tony Gibbs and Gary Weiss, of 9.93 percent-owner Guinness Peat Group.

Also seeking appointment as director are Donald Baskerville, Derek Kirke, and Hutton Peacock, leaving three vacancies.

Tower fell from grace in November with a drastic profit warning, followed in December by a $74.9 million loss for the September year.

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