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Auckland International Airport will name a successor to retiring chief executive Don Huse "in the relatively short-term future", chairman Tony Frankham says.
Yesterday, the company said chief financial officer Robert Sinclair had resigned and would leave following the company's full-year results. Although Auckland Airport said Sinclair was leaving to pursue opportunities overseas, fund managers and analysts said it was likely he had been knocked back for the chief executive role.
"He is a very motivated person and when he started at the airport I would have been surprised if he didn't have his eyes set on the top job," said one analyst.
Huse, who late last year announced his intention to step down following the release of the company's 2008 full year results, yesterday said Sinclair had not applied for the chief executive position.
Chairman Tony Frankham, while confirming that Sinclair had not made a formal application for the job, said: "I suspect that Robert at some stage would have included in his options that as a possibility, but I've not debated it with him."
Frankham said work to find Huse's replacement was well advanced. He anticipated announcing the successful candidate "in the relatively short-term future".
Huse said Sinclair had "been of significant assistance to the board in responding to the various ownership and capital restructuring proposals over the last 18 months", but his departure and that of property general manager Chris Gudgeon, announced a week ago, was "entirely unrelated" to Canada Pension Plan Fund's recent bid.
"Businesses go through these cycles of refreshing their management teams, that's what's happening here."
Frankham said Gudgeon was leaving after being shouldertapped for a bigger job as chief executive at Kiwi Income Property Trust, while Sinclair, "given his background and previous experience" in law and investment banking, had chosen to pursue opportunities in London.
Auckland International Airport shares closed unchanged at $2.19 yesterday.
