The Godfrey Pembroke story is one that this newspaper has followed with intense interest well before the Godfrey Weston and Pembroke businesses merged.
The pioneers – senior planners like Max Weston and John Godfrey on the GW side and Jim Clegg and Judy Towler from Pembrokes, have left an interesting and chal-lenging legacy for new owners, AMP.
Like any business, the premium paid by AMP for GPL reflects the high calibre of people behind the scenes. While there may be efficiencies in systems an
The Godfrey Pembroke story is one that this newspaper has followed with intense interest well before the Godfrey Weston and Pembroke businesses merged.
The pioneers – senior planners like Max Weston and John Godfrey on the GW side and Jim Clegg and Judy Towler from Pembrokes, have left an interesting and chal-lenging legacy for new owners, AMP.
Like any business, the premium paid by AMP for GPL reflects the high calibre of people behind the scenes. While there may be efficiencies in systems and manage-ment styles, at the end of the day it is the ability of the acquirer to retain key people that will provide the real litmus test of success.
In this case it is the advisers who largely hold the keys to unlocking value for the new owners.
Senior AMP management are aware of this fact. Neil Swindells, a former Sealcorp executive and an “acquistion refugee” (Swindells moved to AMP shortly after the St George Bank acquistion of Sealcorp) would also know too well the effort that is required to stave off key departures during an acquisition.
His work will be cut out. The GPL business has always been an interesting and at times uneasy mix of cultures. On one side of the fence were the National Mutual old guard – stakeholders, including John Godfrey, in the former Godfrey Weston business. On the other stood the FAI Life troupe, including a small group of highly influential advisers known colloquially as the G7.
If the GPL board has done its job, AMP management will be well educated about the history of the GPL business, and the specific challenges of doing business under the GPL banner.
But business vagaries aside, the AMP has proven that its so called “independent” distribution channels can work. With the right management, there is no reason that GPL will not continue to operate successfully, much like Hillross, at its new home.
Meanwhile, as the GPL shareholders celebrate their windfalls, it is worth re-flecting that the sale to AMP is the last piece of the exit strategy put in place by Godfrey his board and senior management.
A pet project of John Godfrey before his retirement from operational duties was looking at ways to extract equity from the business that relied so heavily on the names behind it. Godfrey spent many a long hour in the Sydney office drawing up plans for the business that would see stakeholders ultimately rewarded for their efforts.
Similar principles were applied to valuing the individual franchises of GPL ad-visers around the country.
The entire Godfrey/Weston/Pembroke management team of recent times and years gone by are all to be congratulated for building a strong and viable asset.
ends
