This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE Simonds family is boosting its positions on the board of the ASX-listed home builder Simonds Group, as part of a major restructure.
The current two independent directors Susan Oliver and Michael Humphris will resign from the board, following in the footsteps of Leon Gorr, who has been a director of Simonds since its listing in 2014 and stepped down earlier this year.
The Simonds family hold more than 50% of the shares in the company and demanded the restructure, due to the retirement of chairman Gary Simonds.
Gary Simonds will step down from the company, to take up the role of senior company advisor, and he will be replaced by his son Mark.
Mark Simonds will bring along Iain Kirkwood who has been appointed as new non-executive independent chairman; Delphine Cassidy and Neil Kearney appointed as independent non-executive directors; Piers O’Brien and Scott Mahony appointed as non-executive directors.
Mark will join his son Rhett Simonds, who remains on the board.
The company paid tribute to Gary Simonds who established the business in 1949 and served as the chairman since listing the company in October 2014.
“My retirement prompts changes to the Simonds Group board and I take this opportunity to thank outgoing directors, Susan Oliver and Michael Humphris, for their respective contributions,” Simonds said.
“I am excited about the future prospects of Simonds Group under a renewed board which will lead a reinvigoration of the business, drive performance and growth,” he added.
New chairman Iain Kirkwood said, “I look forward to working with the new board,”
Last month Simonds reported a full year profit of $200,000, a turnaround from the loss of $14.9 million in the previous year.
The board restructure comes after shareholders rejected Simonds and Roche families’ takeover bid in November.
Simonds pulled the plug on the proposal after shareholders rejected the 40 cents per share offer was rejected, which is substantially below the $1.78 float price.
The Simonds family pocketed $151 million from the listing of the homebuilding company in November 2014, which raised $161 million for the IPO. Its joint takeover bid to buyback the company from investors was approximately $42 million.
Australian Property Journal
