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An offensive email sent by Vector chairman Michael Stiassny questioning the integrity of board members sparked the historic walkout by three of NewZealand's top commercial directors.
The email alleged Commerce Commission chair Paula Rebstock - with whom Vector had been locked in a pricing tussle - had concerns unnamed board members had cast aspersions on her character.
But Rebstock rejected this when approached personally by John Goulter, one of the former Vector directors. In a letter to Vector's board, she is reported to have confirmed she did not raise any personal concerns about the directors.
The email was the final straw in simmering tensions between Vector's chairman and the three former directors - Tony Gibbs, Greg Muir and Goulter - which led to outright dysfunctionality at the top of one of New Zealand's major companies.
Stiassny refused to step down as chair when the trio requested his resignation at Wednesday's board meeting, so they resigned, wiping more than $200 million off the company's sharemarket value before a later recovery.
Sources among remaining Vector directors claim the trio was intent on a coup d'etat against Stiassny so that one of them could become chair.
They claim that Goulter lobbied Bob Thomson, another independent director, to join their no confidence push. But Thomson - who confirmed he was approached about concerns over Stiassny's leadership - stayed put, scuttling the coup. They also suggest that Stiassny was simply conveying a resolution which the trust had made after the commission and the company struck a deal.
Herald on Sunday inquiries suggest either Goulter or Muir would have become interim chairman, until a topline external director was brought in from outside to chair the major infrastructure company. Expectations were this would have been for no more than a month or two.
The commission sparked investor concerns when it accused the firm of subsidising the beneficiaries of its major shareholder, the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust, at the expense of other consumers.
The commission threatened to take control of the company if the situation was not rectified.
When Rebstock dropped her bombshell, trust chairman Warren Kyd said the "chilling effect of her heavy-handed intervention" was already painfully evident.
In an article for the NZ Herald, Kyd said Stiassny had confirmed at the company's annual results presentation that Vector would not now be pursuing a planned $400 million in new investments, and that a further $250 million "business as usual" investment was under review.
The commission and Vector have since struck a deal to rebalance the pricing policies which was supported by a unanimous resolution of all directors at a previous meeting.
Rebstock was circumspect, telling the Herald on Sunday that a number of Vector's shareholders had contacted the commission after the July announcement.
Energy Minister David Parker says the Government has no current plans to intervene in the wrangle which has left the Vector board decimated.
