Liontrust seeks new chairman

Barbour’s long tenure challenged
Shareholders express discontent

In an attempt to find a successor to Alastair Barbour, whose thirteen-year tenure on the board has stirred discord among investors and colleagues, Liontrust has enlisted the services of headhunters.

Liontrust, a London-listed asset management group, has commenced the process of finding a new chairperson several months after being compelled to abandon its pursuit of competitor GAM due to shareholder concerns.

Liontrust is collaborating with headhunters to identify a board member to replace Alastair Barbour, whose thirteen-year term is set to conclude in the coming months.

The search, which has been ongoing for a significant period, follows the company’s turbulent year, marked by outflows of billions of pounds and a faltering M&A strategy.

It withdrew from the Swiss-based fund manager GAM last summer after investors in the target company declined to support the transaction, dealing a severe blow to Liontrust’s CEO John Ions and Mr Barbour.

Liontrust seeks new chairman following gam takeover fiasco

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Liontrust, whose market capitalization has plummeted to well under £400 million, has been removed from the FTSE 250 index, and its shares have halved in the past year.

Liontrust stated in its Autumn 2018 annual report that Mr Barbour would continue to serve as chairman for a maximum of two additional years.

Already “timed out” by UK corporate governance regulations, he has presided over the organization since September 2019.

15% of investors voted against his re-election in the autumn of last year, and two non-executive directors reportedly tendered their resignations earlier that year in protest of the duration of his tenure on the board.

On Thursday, it remained to be seen whether Liontrust was evaluating any current board members as potential replacements for Mr. Barbour.

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