Gould move could signal PGC shift

George Gould has resigned from the board of Pyne Gould Corporation (PGC) to become group managing director of PGG Wrightson, a move that could signal a change in direction for PGC.

PGC chairman Bruce Irvine said yesterday that while Mr Gould was making a valuable contribution to the PGC board, it was a condition of accepting the PGG Wrightson role that he resign.

There was no intention at present to appoint a replacement director.

Mr Gould replaces Tim Miles, who resigned from PGG Wrightson last year.

PGC would from today be left with four directors: Mr Irvine, George Kerr, Bryan Mogridge and Jeff Greenslade.

Mr Greenslade has been appointed managing director of the new Heartland Bank, Building Society Holdings Ltd, which lists today.

PGC is distributing most of its 72% stake in the bank to its shareholders.

Craigs Investment Partners broker Chris Timms said that once the Heartland Bank shares were allocated to PGC shareholders, PGC would be left with only Perpetual Group, which was restructured into two divisions last year.

Perpetual Portfolio Management provided wealth management services and included the professional trustee services of Perpetual Trust, and Torchlight Investment Group raised capital outside PGC to make counter-cyclical investments at a time of low liquidity in the banking investment sectors.

Torchlight was a substantial investor in South Canterbury Finance.

A former PGC division, Marac Finance, had been moved into the Heartland Bank.

PGG Wrightson was subject of a $141 million partial takeover offer from 19% owner Agria Corp and New Hope Group, one of China's largest agricultural and food corporations.

The offer was 60 cents a share for 235 million shares, Mr Timms said.

Latest figures showed PGC had a market capitalisation of $291 million, but that would drop once Heartland Bank shares were allocated.

The trustee services and asset management division had total assets of $141 million, he said.

"You have to wonder at the cost of retaining a listing on the NZX and maintaining a head office structure when all PGC will hold is the Perpetual Group," Mr Timms said.

Mr Gould, who takes up his role leading Wrightson today, will lead a reform process at New Zealand's largest agricultural services company, which Agria chief executive Xie Tao has said needs to be restructured to focus on its core activities of AgriServices and AgriTech.

The company had underperformed expectations, he said.

Mr Gould was managing director of Pyne Gould Guinness and led the merger with Reid Farmers in 2001, the Pyne Gould Corp annual report says.

He was managing director of South Eastern Utilities from 1994 to 2001.

He was a director of Pyne Gould Corp from 1990 to 2004 and was elected to the board again in March 2010.

Mr Gould is a descendant of one of the founding families.

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