New chairman pledges to get Sage governance in lin
Financial Services Correspondent
ABSA's chairman Danie Cronje, who has replaced Louis Shill as chairman of Sage Group, has pledged to pull the "new" Sage in line with SA's corporate governance practices.
Shill announced his resignation as executive chairman on April 9 as Sage threw in the towel on an expensive attempt to launch a foreign operation.
He founded Sage in 1969, and was perceived as a dominant personality within the group, particularly as it had no CEO position until April.
However, the second King report on corporate governance said the chairman of a company should "preferably" be an independent nonexecutive director.
Cronje's appointment as nonexecutive chairman, along with the hiring of former Old Mutual MD Garth Griffin as Sage CEO, is part of a revamp that will align the group better with corporate governance standards.
Absa previously held 15% in Sage, which was boosted to 21% last month as the bank took up part of Sage's R350m rights offer. However, Shill was widely seen as running Sage. Cronje said yesterday he saw his new Sage position as "far more of a nonexecutive post" than that of Shill.
"With the appointment of Garth Griffin as CEO, I will look to facilitate this new phase in Sage, bringing it into line with corporate governance norms," he said.
Although Shill was now a nonexecutive director at Sage, concerns have been raised about this shift in his responsibilities.
CA Ratings governance expert Charl Kocks says a "cooling off" period after an executive takes up a nonexecutive position is often the best approach, if only to placate concerns that he no longer influences the board.
May 20 2003 06:59:14:000AM Rob Rose Business Day 1st Edition
Tuesday
20 May 2003
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