For Grierson, suing Watson's company is just another investment decision

By PAUL PANCKHURST

Courtroom three: as lawyer Paul Dale made his closing submissions in the case against Eric Watson's Cullen Investments, his client, Josephine Grierson, looked close to standing up and taking over.

This was one litigant who itched to get involved and be heard.

She wrote notes to Dale and the journalists at the High Court hearing in Auckland.

From the public seating she sometimes talked to Master John Faire or the lawyers.

When Dale talked of a key written agreement between Cullen and Grierson's company, Jowada Holdings, he told the court that it meant exactly what it said it meant.

If the parties had wanted to express something else, they should have written something else.

"And would have," chipped in Grierson in a voice that comes via a private schooling in Auckland - "Dio" or Diocesan School for Girls - and a university education in Oxford, England.

Grierson's company is seeking $886,727 plus interest and costs after hatching takeover plans with Cullen for lingerie-maker Bendon but ending up out of the action.

Eight days ago, Grierson lost Round 1, when Master Faire refused an application for summary judgment.

Her company had failed to prove that Cullen had no arguable defence to the lawsuit - and therefore failed to win a victory in the court's fast-track system.

Grierson pondered her options and then, two days ago, announced she would press on with the case - either by appealing against the High Court judgment or going to a full trial.

Or possibly both, if she appeals against the High Court judgment, loses, and then takes the case through to trial.

It could be a long-fought battle, as Cullen does not accept she has a case.

Grierson is Auckland-born, 40-something, married with two children - and no rube wandering naively through the worlds of commercial negotiation and litigation.

As an economist, she has regularly served as an expert witness in cases on competition and market dominance.

One client was telco Clear, in its stoushes with Telecom. She is a former member of the Commerce Commission, a former group manager of corporate strategy for Enerco, and a board member of Metrowater.

Two of her abiding interests: venture capital and leveraged buy-outs.

Nor is Grierson a stranger to the public stage.

She was the glamour factor and candidate for Pakuranga when businessman Bob Jones - now Sir Robert - launched the New Zealand Party in 1984. She later wrote a book about the campaign, The Hell of It.

In 1995, she made headlines as a Ceramco shareholder who took on the management at an annual meeting of the poorly performing company that was a one-time market darling.

The story that led to Grierson's latest round of headlines began in 2000 when she and David Hayde, a former director of corporate finance at KPMG, formed two companies, Jowada Holdings and Pegasus Equity.

According to the judgment of Master Faire: "They were looking for a relatively high-profile deal.

"Their hope was that its successful completion would establish their reputations in this area."

The pair pinpointed the cash-rich Bendon as a target.

Grierson knew the company from when it was a part of Ceramco.

Bendon was dithering over returning $17.5 million in cash to shareholders - making it ripe for a raid.

Grierson enlisted a near-neighbour in Devonport, Wayne Walden, the then chief executive of Farmers Deka, as a likely investor.

Then, looking for a partner with bigger pockets, Grierson's crew hooked up with Cullen Investments.

Grierson knew chief executive Phil Newland from when he was a lawyer at Russell McVeagh - and acted for Enerco.

The would-be takeover partners hatched plans that used the name STRAPS - as in bra straps - in connection with the takeover target, Bendon.

Grierson said she was always wary of the possibility of being cut out of any eventual deal - and hence the written agreement that has been at the centre of debate in court.

Grierson uses the word "betrayal" in connection with what eventuated - the takeover of Bendon by Pacific Retail Group, another company in the empire of entrepreneur-in-exile Eric Watson.

She and Newland also once described one another as friends.

However, quizzed on whether this case was business or personal, she was very clear:

"Business, strictly business," she said.

"It isn't a vendetta.

"It isn't personal."

Grierson said she did not lack the resources to pursue the case - and cited her large and historic two-storey Victorian waterfront home in Torpedo Bay as an example.

She is also involved in other business ventures, including a commercial property development on the North Shore.

For her the court case is another business proposition.

So long as the investment of time and money was warranted, she would persist.

"If litigation is what it takes, I'll be a determined litigant."

For his part, Newland said: "We are a very big target and now and again people will take action against us for whatever reason they see fit - in the pursuit of money."

He said: "When you're a company the size of ours and as successful as ours, people will tend to target you."

Grierson's case was "entirely without merit".

Not the words of someone about to settle.

In other words: see you in court again.