After coming under pressure from its investors, Foxtons announced on Friday the appointment of Nigel Rich, 75, a former chairman of Hamptons International and Segro, as its next chairman.
He will replace Ian Barlow, 69, who resigned in July after a shareholder revolt over executive pay and calls for a management shake-up.
A month earlier, Hosking Partners, which owns an 11% stake in Foxtons, had said that “the time has come for radical board-level change at Foxtons”.
Shareholders had complained about the level of executive pay and the company’s poor share price performance.
Angry investors have included Catalist Partners, an activist investor co-founded by Robin Paterson, who was chief executive of Hamptons International when Rich was chairman.
Josh Ponniah, of Catalist, commented: “The board has responded to issues raised by shareholders. Nigel Rich is well-known to Catalist, having previously worked together with Robin Paterson for eight years as chairman of Hamptons.
“Nigel brings the specific industry expertise and turnaround experience that Catalist believes is necessary to reverse the decline in performance over the past 5 years.
“We look forward to working with Nigel and the Board to accelerate this recovery.”
Confirmed: Foxtons announces the appointment of Nigel Rich as chairman
Comments (5)
“Josh Ponniah, of Catalist, commented: “Nigel brings the “The board has responded to issues raised by shareholders.”
Whilst not impossible, I feel it unlikely that the original press release was worded so sloppily. Proof-reading would be an excellent idea for future articles.
And if applied retrospectively it would tidy up a lot of the last year or so’s content.
‘so’s’ – really?!!
Passed a spelling and grammar test, Mr Egerton – your point being?
It is to do with the relationship between Paterson and Rich. He will be the shareholders inside man on the board of directors.
From an anchor point inside the business, ie Rich, the shareholders will take control of the board and make the changes they want.
Odd appointment
Undoubtedly their model needs to change. Big ship for Mr Mr Rich to turnaround and why at 75 would he even want the hassle?