Weiss quits Guinness Peat Group

Gary Weiss File photo

Gary Weiss has quit Guinness Peat Group and chairman Mark Johnson won't seek re-election to the board as the diversified investment firm winds down.

Weiss will vacate his role as executive director at the end of April.

Along with Blake Nixon, who will put himself up for re-election, they helped build a sprawling empire that came unstuck with sub-optimal investments and damage from the global financial crisis.

Johnson, who was brought in last September to oversee the company's wind-down, said his job is done as chairman, with GPG now on the road to make a capital return to investors.

He won't put his name forward for election in June.

The long-serving Weiss, who sports a distinctive mop of hair, will stay on as chairman of GPG's thread-making company Coats Plc, for at least 12 months and provide consultancy services to the GPG board if needed. That follows the pattern of Tony Gibbs, who was kept on as chairman of Turners & Growers and Tower after being ousted from GPG.

The departures leave GPG under the control of the independent directors installed after shareholders threatened a revolt over restructuring plans the firm was forced to abandon. Brierley said in February he feared the company had entered "a period of increasing madness," according to correspondence with the Shareholders Association.

Shareholders will get to vote at this year's AGM on whether to accept a capital return of $158 million via a scheme of arrangement under which they will get a cash payment in return for the cancellation of a proportion of their shares. The deal needs approval from UK Court and tax authorities.

Former chairman and founder Brierley had promised a substantial capital return as far back as 2008, when he first flagged his retirement, though the global financial crisis put the kybosh on those plans.

A bid to split up the company along regional lines led to a boardroom stoush, with New Zealand director Gibbs resigning after he publicly spoke out against the move to split the company up, and ultimately drove the investor revolt that removed Brierley and his team from power.

GPG's shares rose 0.5 cent to 79.5 cents in trading yesterday, and have gained 9.7 per cent this year.

The stock is up 19 per cent since the company installed independent directors to review and drive the wind-down strategy.