Government meddling spurs Deane's plan to retire

Rod Deane

Rod Deane cites increasing Government interference in business as one of the reasons he is retiring as Telecom chairman, but denies the timing of his announcement is directly related to this month's unbundling decision.

"It's no coincidence that the two main boards I'm retiring from are ones that are subject to considerable regulatory intrusion," he said yesterday.

"That's not an environment that I find as interesting as more regular commercial environments."

Deane has announced plans to retire from the Telecom board some time in the next 12 months. He also plans to step down from the board of the ANZ Bank by June 30.

The only reason the announcement came when it did - at the end of a week when several business commentators called for him to resign - was that it was the first time he had been asked the question by the media.

He said he told the Telecom board several months ago and succession planning was well under way.

Deane, who has been on the Telecom board since its privatisation in 1992, may stay on as long as June 30 next year.

"That will be at the convenience of the board and the company and is yet to be decided. It is just a question of working through the succession arrangements," he said.

Asked about the severity of the issues now facing Telecom, Deane said he remained confident that it would remain "a powerful, strong and successful company".

But the way the unbundling announcement had been handled was extremely negative for shareholders and for the New Zealand market as a whole, he said. There had been a substantial drop in value which was still being played out.

"I feel very disappointed that the Government saw fit to introduce such severe regulation. And it is a shame that they needed to do it in such a hurry and without consultation with us," he said.

That meant there had been limited opportunity for Telecom to prepare the market. "So it's clearly a negative for Telecom shareholders. But it's a major negative for New Zealand equity markets as well because this is very bad for the reputation ... and I feel sorry about that."

Telecom had done everything it could be expected to under the circumstances and the board retained full confidence in chief executive Theresa Gattung, he said.

"We were as up front as we could possibly be."

Deane said he also planned to retire shortly as a director of the ANZ Banking Group and chairman of the ANZ National Bank, Te Papa museum and the City Gallery Wellington Foundation.

He was keen to devote more time to activities which he and wife Gillian had been pursuing in recent years.

Deane said he would continue as chairman of Fletcher Building and several other boards.