Geon's
current chief operating officer Graham Morgan has been appointed as the new
CEO, with Towell taking on an advisory role for the next six moths.
Towell
says the last year and a half have been an 'enormous drain' on him, and facing
the prospect of an elongated tenure from his original plan did not appeal.
Geon's
owner Gresham private equity had
originally planned to list the company in the near future, and given that as
part of the listing the CEO is essentially locked in for three years Towell was
originally looking at a six year stint in total.
However
the US sub-prime induced global
credit squeeze has hijacked Gresham's plan to recoup much of
its outlay in the near future by effectively thwarting the listing of Geon (and
every other company) on the stock market for the next two to three years. This
in turn affected Towell's plans, as it meant he would have had to stay at Geon
far longer than he originally anticipated, and hastened his departure plans.
Towell
says, "The time is right for me to hand over the reins. Geon will go
through a period of settling down in the next 12 months, as we bed in the huge
number of investments we have made."
During
Towell's tenure Geon, which was originally the New Zealand located Pacific
Print Group, received huge backing from Gresham private equity, and became the
fastest growing print group in the country, adding half a dozen Australian
printers to its portfolio, including the $127m purchase of Penfold Buscombe,
itself a champion of consolidation. Geon also invested in creating New Zealand's biggest print plant.
