“Look, if he’s withdrawing his candidacy at this point, that doesn’t feel like great news for shareholders,” Mander said.
He said it also made it “more likely” that the board is considering an offshore appointment.
“There’s a lot of controversy and speculation locally around the Fletcher board, probably some cracks in the board culture previously, and I think the withdrawal or the recent resignations of some of the board members is evidence of that,” Mander said.
Cairns declined to be interviewed.
A spokesperson for Fletcher Building also declined to provide comment while a recruitment process was underway.
Mander said “there probably is a power battle going on” amongst the bigger investors over the appointment of the chairperson.
“We’ve made it very clear that we’d be aghast if they appointed an Australian-based chair and an Australian-based CEO.
“Now we don’t mind so much where the people come from, but we do think those roles need to be Auckland based,” he said.
The founder of non-profit Kiwisaver provider Simplicity, Sam Stubbs, also hit out at Fletcher’s board chairperson recruitment process.
In a post on social media, he said Cairns’ comments should be “a massive alarm bell for shareholders”.
“Someone with Mark Cairns’ pedigree and stature doesn’t say things like this unless something is seriously wrong,” he said.
“Kiwisaver managers should be standing up in public, not hiding or whispering behind closed doors while this gong show of corporate governance plays out,” Stubbs said.
-RNZ
