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Fallout from the dramatic board-room breakup at Vector spread yesterday as present and former directors traded blows over whether the Auckland energy distributor's majority shareholder was kept informed of the simmering tensions.
Warren Kyd - chairman of Vector's 75.1 per cent shareholder, the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust - said he was not informed of the boardroom disputes that culminated in the resignations of independent directors Tony Gibbs, John Goulter and Greg Muir.
He also said he was given no indication of the intended resignations and that he should have been informed on both counts. Goulter, Gibbs and Muir also publicly declared their concerns over Vector's governance and their lack of confidence in chairman Michael Stiassny.
Sources said the former directors alleged Stiassny's relationship with the trust was too close, that he acted outside strategies agreed by management and the board and that he was too confrontational. Stiassny denies the claims.
Kyd said: "We were surprised by [the independent directors'] actions and we would have thought they would have discussed it with us first. We are the majority shareholder and installed them."
Gibbs, however, said he did all that was required of him to inform the trust. He had informed trustee and Vector director Karen Sherry of his concerns six months before Wednesday's falling-out.
He said he and the other independent directors had told Stiassny of their concerns and Stiassny and Sherry should have conveyed the difficulties to the trust.
"The idea that somehow nobody knew about [our concerns] is a complete fiction," Gibbs said.
Sherry said she was aware of a personality clash between the independent directors and the chairman, but said she was caught unawares by the sudden departures.
"Never once have we had a discussion around the board table on these matters. I had no inkling that this is what they wanted to do," she said.
Despite the latest round of recriminations, shares in Vector have stabilised after plunging 22c on Wednesday to as low as $2.31, wiping more than $200 million off the firm's value, before recovering to close 8c down at $2.45. The shares continued to recover yesterday, closing up 11c at $2.56.
Major shareholders said that as a utility the company was more resilient in the short term in the face of such developments. But such a dramatic falling-out posed serious questions about the company's long-term strategy and future governance.
"It is going to be hard to get credible independent directors of the calibre of the ones that have left," said Tower New Zealand equities manager Wayne Stechman.
