Liontrust starts search for new chair following GAM fiasco
Liontrust has begun to search for a new chair following its failure to purchase Swiss asset manager GAM last year.
Alastair Barbour, who has sat on the firm’s board for 13 years and has been chair of the asset manager since September 2019, is set to be replaced.
Sky News reported that Liontrust had been working with headhunters “for some time” to find a successor to Barbour, who saw 15% of shareholders vote against his re-election last autumn.
The news comes following Liontrust’s failed £96m attempt to buy Swiss rival GAM last year, which saw only 33.5 per cent of GAM’s shareholders vote in favour of the takeover.
However, it is understood that the succession is unrelated to the failed deal, as Liontrust said in its July annual report that as Barbour had sat on the firm’s board for more than nine years, beyond what is recommended by the UK Corporate Governance Code, he would be stepping down within the next two years.
Barbour claimed in October that the board was “pleased” with Liontrust’s attempted acquisition, including its “resolute” commitment to the offering price. He said the failed bid had been a “better outcome than completing a deal for the wrong price”.
Last week, Liontrust revealed that investors had pulled out £1.7bn from the firm over the last three months of 2023, with over £4bn withdrawn over the last nine months.
The firm was ejected from the FTSE 250 last month for being too small as its stock price has been in terminal decline, falling 76.4% from its peak in September 2021 and halving over the last year.
Liontrust declined to comment.