Friday, March 29, 2024

Burt, Irvine out at PGW

Avatar photo
The three New Zealand directors of PGG Wrightson are leaving the board in major changes at the rural services group. Deputy chairman Trevor Burt and independent directors Bruce Irvine and John Nichol will finish on April 30.
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Burt has effectively led the PGW board in recent times, including the process leading to the sale of the PGW Seeds business to DLF Seeds. The sale is now subject only to clearance from the Overseas Investment Office.

Irvine has chaired the company’s audit committee as well as the independent directors’ committee on issues relating to the company relationship with controlling Chinese shareholder Agria Corporation and its chairman Alan Lai, who left the PGW board after last year’s annual meeting.

The trio are being replaced by new chairman Rodger Finlay, David Cushing and Sarah Brown, who will all be independent directors.

The Cushing family controlled North Island rural services group Williams and Kettle, which was merged into the Wrightson business before the 2005 merger with Pyne Gould Guinness, which formed the current business. 

One of PGW’s best businesses, Fruitfed Supplies, was part of Williams and Kettle.

Cushing is a major shareholder and executive chairman of Rural Equities and Finlay is its deputy chairman. He previously served on the PGW agritech committee.

The Cushing family company H and G is in the process of buying a 2.2% stake in PGW from controlling shareholder Agria. Finlay is a director of Ngai Tahu Holdings, which is also a minority PGW shareholder.

Brown is a Southland commercial lawyer with governance roles in the electricity sector and a former chairman of the Southern Institute of Technology.

Current PGW chairman Joo Hai Lee will become deputy chairman. He represents Agria on the board as does U Kean Seng. Ronald Seah remains as an independent director.

Total
0
Shares
People are also reading