Right until the end Hurley shows his true colors. All the talk...

Right until the end Hurley shows his true colors. All the talk over the past year or two of things stabilizing, then to cap things off a consolidation pitched at restoring value and reducing volatility, followed shortly thereafter by the announcements of Tope Ryde exit and the fateful MBO he orchestrated. All that after a self-admitted overpaid price for scarbourough and a loss of some 2 billion dollars at holders expense. Throughout no apology or admission, and just for good measure, he collects his long term and service allowance, plus just short of another million to say goodbye. There aren't enough words for that sort of behaviour and intentions, and one would have expected that Hurley as MD would have taken more responsibility as other MDs around the planet have done, and not taken the bonuses throughout at the least. PPR may have toungue in cheek said some prayers, but from my perspective I wish Peter nothing more than the worst future and while eternally hopeful, would wish him never to take up a similar role in any other company. Given the outrageous behaviour in terms of termination moneys received, I honestly wouldn't put it past hime to dump any shares held out of spite. The announcement by Valad said practically nothing, yet still ended with wishes for Peter's best in the future. Even after they've rid themselves of him, the board still has to mention pleasantries - I doubt any other holder would have similar sentiments, and it's downright rude for the board to comment as such when they could have just let it go. It's difficult to see how the market is reacting since as Valad-luck would have it, today's announcement coincided with the other not so great news. The market will probably mess around a bit since the obvious question now remains as to who will take up the MD position, and I would not be surprised to see further action in following weeks as regards the board constituency as a whole now that Hurley has gone. Still the boards moves at a snail's pace when trying to do anything in holder favour, but quick as hell to flush our investment down the drain, so not expectant of much in the way of strategy comments coming out of them to allay any concerns. And we're all still waiting to hear whether any reprisals against other MBO participants is in the works, although I somehow doubt the fortitude exists in the current board. Here's hoping we don't have to wait in limbo another month - Salwin may be a fine character, however I have never been a fan of having an investment banker with background in restructuring and similar activities running a company as a going concern. As for Hurley's severance, I'm hoping it comes out of the 7m odd contingency - I'm still waiting on replies to previous emails as regards such questions so may have to wait until the board gets cleared out should this happen. Let's wait and see the media response in the next few days regardless. I'd appreciate any replies or comments anyone may have received from Valad - I don't suppose anyone could say today's announcement wasn't transparent, however why it took a month is anyone's guess - if everything mentioned was contractually defined, then it should have been a 5 minute in and out. I guess that's the Valad board style and really wonder some days whether they intentionally try to release a piece of good news on the same day as some bad news. As for termination, I've never heard of one like this on a Monday - surely they had this figured out last week and Friday would have seemed more appropriate!

Anyway better than doing it in a week later on Easter Friday - then we would have run the risk of him coming back the following Monday...