Ron Brierley quits Coats Group board, ending 25-year tenure   21 Apr 2015

Ron Brierley quits Coats Group board, ending 25-year tenure

By Jonathan Underhill

April 21 (BusinessDesk) - Sir Ron Brierley has resigned from the board of Coats Group, the company that grew out of his investment vehicle Guinness Peat Group, ending a 25-year tenure.

GPG sold down its portfolio of investments, leaving just the Coats threadmaking business, and renamed itself to reflect the change in business. Brierley's team at GPG ended up divided over strategy for the group, which had businesses in New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii as well as the European Coats business.

In announcing the resignation, Coats chairman Mike Clasper thanked Brierley "for his extensive contribution over many years."

"Having been appointed to the board as chairman in 1990, and holding that position until 2010, Sir Ron has brought a great deal of leadership, experience and insight to the company," Clasper said. "More recently he has supported the successful completion of the asset realisation programme and the renaming of the company to Coats Group plc together with the board changes made earlier this year."

Brierley has sold down his holdings in the company and in recent years has devoted more efforts to ASX-listed Mercantile Investment Co, which he took control of in 2012. He also brought across his former GPG lieutenants Ron Langley and Gary Weiss to Mercantile.

Shares of NZX-listed Coats last traded at 52 cents and have gained 16 percent since the beginning of this year.

(BusinessDesk)

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