Potential takeover target, page-41

Just heard it said on Sky Business that none of the original management team remain that made the company what it is now, didn't say when the complete turn around occurred and I don't whether it's factual or not. Just sayin'.""

My sense is that the financial talking heads on television get paid to fill up the time between ads by saying stuff.

But it occurs to me that their key objective is directed more to avoiding periods of silence, than it is to ensuring that the content which displaces the silence is always accurate.


Here are the facts:

Challenger's 8 directors (7 NEDs) have the following service tenure:

Chairman - 15 years
Managing Director - 15 Years (6 years as MD)
NED#1 - 14 years
NED #2 - 6 years
NED #3 - 6 years
NED #4 - 3 years
NED #5 - 3 months (replaced retiring director with 7 years'service)
NED #6 - 3 months (replaced retiring director with 7 years'service)

As can be seen, the chairman and MD have been with the business since 2003, which is when it listed.

And, until the recent board appointments at the end of last year, the average service period for Challenger's directors was around 9 years, with the shortest being 3 years.

Nine years' average service is too long, in my view. To remain dynamic and to perform optimally, boards need one or two fresh directors to be appointed every few years.

As for Challenger's KMP, their service tenure is as follows:

Chief Financial Officer - 11 years
Chief Executive & Chief Investment Officer, Life - 15 years
Chief Executive, Distribution, Product and Marketing - 15 years
Chief Executive, Funds Management - 3 years

Challenger's former Chief Executive, Distribution, Marketing & Research, stepped down in March last year, after 11 years with the company.

So, I make that 2 (TWO) directors and 1 (ONE) senior executive who have left the business; the rest of the company's senior managers have been with the company for the better part of a decade, or more.

Like I say, the talking heads on TV need to fill the space between ads.
But that mere act of filling the space is more important than that the content with which that space is filled.

And in this particular case, it feels like it was filled with a good dose of nonsense.