London based investment company Guinness Peat Group
(ASX:GPG) has removed executive director Tony Gibbs from its board after he publicly opposed the company’ s plans to demerge its Australian business.
On June 16, Guinness Peat announced plans to demerge its Australian operations and list them separately on the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges as GPG Australia.
Following the news, New Zealand based executive director of Guinness Peat, Tony Gibbs came out in opposition of the idea, saying that the proposal did not have the support of shareholders and would not succeed.
Guinness Peat released a statement saying that it did not approve the comments made by Mr Gibbs and that they did not reflect the opinions of the board.
The company said it was disappointed with Mr Gibbs decision to publicly declare his opposition to the plan and has subsequently decided to terminate his position on the company’s board.
Fairfax reports the company saying the decision was made after much deliberation and could have been avoidable, however the breach of protocol was unacceptable.
Guinness Peat Group’s 2009 loss was narrower than its loss the year before.
