Staying Allert to needs of two sets of masters
The Age
Saturday December 19, 2009
RICK Allert admits he has been involved in a delicate balancing act since rejecting the first attempt by AXA SA at a buy-out of AXA Asia Pacific five years ago.Since then, the AXA Asia Pacific chairman has had to balance the interests of AXA SA, a 54 per cent owner and partner in many of the Asian operations, with the interests of the minority shareholders. "I've made it my business to ensure that the relationship between (AXA SA chief executive) Henri de Castries and myself has been a good one," says Mr Allert, who meets the AXA SA boss several times a year.Mr Allert started as an insolvency practitioner in Adelaide during the 1960s. It's a job that required a clinical approach to business where the main tools were a spreadsheet and a padlock and chain often used to lock up factories that had gone out of business.Again, Mr Allert has found himself playing negotiator on behalf of his minority investors as his French shareholder pursues its ambition to grow in Asia.
© 2009 The Age