This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
GARY Weiss has failed in his latest attempt to secure a seat on the board Cromwell Property Group, voted down at an extraordinary general meeting called by ARA Asset Management as part of the ongoing bid from the group’s largest shareholder to get their nominee appointed.
The meeting came only a few months after Weiss narrowly missed out on a position at the Cromwell annual general meeting. However, yesterday’s vote showed the gap has widened, with just over 59% voting against his nomination.
Weiss is a board member of major ARA shareholder Straits Trading Company, and ARA had nominated Weiss to the Cromwell board last year. Cromwell had resisted the move, citing its ARA’s involvement as a conflict of interest and Weiss’s heavy workload that included seven listed board appointments, including at Ardent Leisure and Estia Health.
Earlier this month governance firm Ownership Matters suggested clients should vote for the proposal following Weiss committing to cut back other board commitments, including from Straits Trading if he made it on to the Cromwell board, and from Ridley Corp. Proxy firm ISS had recommended against.
Tensions arising from perceived conflicts of interest dated back to as long ago as early 2019, having prompted ARA’s local arm’s chief executive officer David Blight to step down from the Cromwell board.
The groups competed for the acquisition of Brisbane towers 133 Mary St, which ARA picked up for $96.5 million in April, and 400 George St which Cromwell bought in August for $524.75 million from Blackstone and HSBC Trinkaus.
Cromwell completed a $375 million capital raising in June. ARA was frozen out of the institutional placement after Cromwell’s lawyers considered ARA a related party.
