Mathieson accuses Endeavour board of running an ‘insiders club’
Endeavour’s largest shareholder, billionaire Bruce Mathieson, has taken an extraordinary swipe at the hotels and liquor retailing group, describing attempts to prevent the election of an experienced businessman he supports “a cynical attempt to… entrench the insiders club on the… board”.
In an increasingly acrimonious dispute, Mr Mathieson wrote to the Endeavour board complaining about the “material value destruction”, adding that the brand positioning for Dan Murphy’s and BWS, two retail chains owned by the company, was “strategically lost”.
Steve Donohue is the chief executive of Endeavour. Ben Searcy
Mr Mathieson, whose son Bruce Mathieson jnr is on the Endeavour board, is backing the election of former Myer chairman Bill Wavish at the company’s annual meeting this year. However, Endeavour chairman Peter Hearl declined to back his election because there was not “sufficient time” to conduct “customary processes it undertakes in selecting and appointing directors, including the associated probity assessments”.
Mr Mathieson, in his letter, said it was “preposterous” not to allow shareholders to vote for Mr Wavish if he had not obtained necessary approvals by the time of the AGM. “There is no realistic prospect that anyone could obtain all necessary regulatory approvals in such a short time frame,” he wrote. “This tactic could only be a cynical attempt to further entrench the insiders club on the Endeavour board.”
Other directors including Rod van Onselen, Anne Brennan and Bruce Mathieson jnr had been elected subject to obtaining all necessary approvals, Mr Mathieson wrote in his letter to Mr Hearl. “I am very concerned about the current and future strategic and operational priorities of the business, and current
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