Montana chief heads south for new role

By SIMON HENDERY liquor writer

Montana head Peter Hubscher will move from Auckland to rural Hawkes Bay when he swaps the company's managing director job for the role of chairman next year.

But the 61-year-old, who began his career as a winemaker and went on to run the country's largest wine business, has no intention of tending grapes on the property.

"I don't think I need to prove that I can make wine," he joked yesterday.

"I'd rather buy something on special at the supermarket."

Montana announced yesterday that Hubscher would step down as managing director on May 28 next year and take up the chairman's job, which will become vacant with the retirement of former shareholder Peter Masfen.

Masfen is stepping down after a transition period following Montana's purchase by UK-based drinks giant Allied Domecq.

He said yesterday that he would not give up his other business interests, which include large holdings in several listed companies.

Hubscher said it was difficult to decide when to relinquish control in a job like his. But now that the integration of business under Allied Domecq was complete, he was looking forward to stepping away from the pressures of management and spending more time with his wife, Pam, and his family.

"I'll stay close to the company and close to the industry, but without the stresses and strains of day-to-day executive [duties]."

He said he told the Allied Domecq board of his decision to step down only last Friday. He had provided a long lead-in time to appoint and groom a successor, and it was too early to speculate on where that person would come from.

The country's third-largest winemaker, Villa Maria, is also looking for a chief executive after company founder George Fistonich announced in April that he was on the lookout for someone to take over the day-to-day running of the business so he can step into an executive chairman role.

Fistonich said yesterday that although there had been some very good applicants, the appointment process was continuing.

He said Hubscher had taken a responsible position in his role as chairman of the growers and producers organisation New Zealand Winegrowers.

Fistonich said that in his Montana role, Hubscher had been an intelligent competitor who had been good for the wine industry and had avoided the temptation open to a large producer to cut prices.

"He has maintained a good steady pricing regime and I hope whoever takes his job is as responsible as he's been."

Hubscher began a degree in food technology at Massey University in 1961 and had aspirations of becoming a cheesemaker before being offered a trainee winemaker's job.

He joined Montana in 1973, directing the company's winemaking before becoming managing director in 1991.

He said yesterday he was proud that, under his stewardship, Montana's earnings before interest and tax had grown an average 20 per cent a year over the past 12 years.

Allied Domecq took control of Montana in 2001 after a drawn-out acquisition battle with Lion Nathan.