Director offers to go after deal

Christchurch Casinos director Arthur Pitcher has offered to step down from the board, after a peace settlement between the business' major shareholders.

Pitcher said he would continue as chief executive of the casino he had run since it opened a decade ago.

The Englishman emerged as the meat in the sandwich in a tussle between casino and Skyline Enterprises chairman Barry Thomas and former shareholder Aspinall last year. Thomas removed Pitcher from the board over "shareholder issues", and Aspinall responded by threatening legal action and got him reinstated.

Thomas said last night that he had not heard of Pitcher's offer.

Pitcher was appointed to the four-person board by Aspinall, which this year sold its 40.5 per cent shareholding to Sky City for $93.75 million.

Aspinall and Thomas fell out after the chairman learned the United Kingdom gambling business had held secret talks to sell its stake to rival Sky City after knocking back an $85 million offer from Skyline.

Yesterday, Sky City Entertainment confirmed to the sharemarket it had struck a deal with Skyline over shareholder issues, and Pitcher said he had tendered his resignation to Sky City.

A Sky City spokeswoman said the company understood Pitcher had agreed to step down to facilitate the reorganisation by both shareholders.

Sky City managing director Evan Davies is likely to join the board, with a second Sky City director who will replace Aspinall's London director James Osbourne.

Thomas and Sky City had been at odds but thrashed out a deal last week to solve their differences. Sky City outlined the agreement in a statement to the New Zealand Exchange yesterday.

Under the agreement, Thomas looks like he has won the chairman's job for life, or at least the foreseeable future. Sky City said the deal would see Thomas or a Skyline representative continue as chairman while the company has an equal or greater shareholding than Sky City.

- NZPA