Documents released by the Reserve Bank on South Canterbury Finance describe the high-stakes struggle, including ultimatums and delaying games, that forced owner Allan Hubbard out of the company.The documents, released en-masse yesterday evening, talk ab
Documents released by the Reserve Bank on South Canterbury Finance describe the high-stakes struggle, including ultimatums and delaying games, that forced owner Allan Hubbard out of the company.
The documents, released en-masse yesterday evening, talk about a month-long struggle to force Mr Hubbard and his fellow South Canterbury director Edward Sullivan to resign because of "governance issues".
An email on May 18 said: "At a Board meeting last week, The Independent Directors asked Allan Hubbard to stand down from the Board of SCF because of 'governance issues.' There is another meeting tonight where it is expected that the Independent Directors will issue an ultimatum to Hubbard that either he goes, or they resign on mass [sic]. Either way, the outcome could raise serious doubts about the future of the company."
A reply to the email notes: "It really does look the end is very near for SCF - but we have said that many times over the last 18 months and it has so far survived."
That May 18 meeting, however, never happened, with a follow-up email noting: "Prior to the commencement of the meeting Hubbard delivered a letter to the independent directors offering to resign subject to agreement on a range of matters. The terms of the offer are being considered by the independent directors and a final decision will now take a further 24-48 hours."
The struggle continued for another fortnight, with a May 28 email noting: "Events in Timaru are moving at a glacial pace ... Ed Sullivan has resigned, and Alan's resignation letter is on his desk. He is playing an effective delaying game holding up his signature, but time is running out."
Three days later South Canterbury announced the resignations of Mr Sullivan and Mr Hubbard. Mr Hubbard was given the title "president for life", while Mr Sullivan was said to be retiring.
