A little piece of history - Ron Brierley - Chariman of GPG was...

A little piece of history - Ron Brierley - Chariman of GPG was one of the original corporate raiders.

In the 70s and 80s he was in charge of Brierley (NZ listed) and they were known for buying out companies and then piece by piece seeling them off separately - ultimately ending up getting far in excess of their original purchase price. Evenually he was ousted through a mixture of boardroom politics and bad descisions and then went on to form GPG.

Today GPG is by nature a more passive investor, but still likes to control companies and generally restructures and later sells their position out.

Over the last 12 months he has announced his want to retire from GPG, which may also mean it getting delisted and returning funds to shareholders.

Sorry for the long winded comments, but I would not be surprised if this was going to be his last big deal and he plans to take control - majority shareholding and then proceed to break it up. All this will be good for present shareholders in the short-medium term imo.

To have GPG taking a position is very good for all concerned.