John Alexander steps back from Crown management
Former federal communications minister Helen Coonan to take over as chair and chief financial officer Ken Barton named as chief executive.
Crown Resorts executive chairman John Alexander will step back from running the casino business, and will be replaced by Helen Coonan as chair and Ken Barton as chief executive in a move the company said happened without the direct approval of major shareholder James Packer.
The changes come as an inquiry gets under way in Sydney looking at whether a planned buyout of a portion of a majority stake in Crown by Lawrence Ho’s Melco from Mr Packer raises probity issues.
The succession changes, outlined late on Friday after an hour-long Crown board meeting in Melbourne, will see Mr Alexander, who has been called as a witness to the Sydney inquiry, remain on Crown’s board as an executive director for 12 months on a $3.54m salary.
Ms Coonan, a former federal communications minister, said the move had been in the works for about 12 months but the Crown board delayed its finalisation as it had been dealing with several inquiries, an aborted potential takeover by Wynn Resorts and Melco’s proposed buyout of half of Mr Packer’s Crown stake.
“This is a very clear example of the independent directors really stepping forward and taking a leadership role at the company,” Ms Coonan said, while stressing the rationale for the move was shareholder concerns about the Crown board and executive structure, including calls to split the chair and CEO roles.
“We don’t have a tin ear and we have been accused of staunchly defending something that we should otherwise direct our attention to.
“John had done a pretty good job of stabilising the company after the detention of our employees in China (in 2016). JA led the process and he has very active in encouraging the board in looking at how we would make our governance more aligned with modern practice.”
When asked whether Mr Packer, the billionaire and biggest shareholder in Crown who is a former executive chairman and director of the company, had any influence over her or Mr Barton’s appointment, Ms Coonan said: “He certainly has not been involved in the process.”
But Mr Packer endorsed the move, saying that “these initiatives have my full support” and that the “new governance structure announced ... was driven by the Crown board, responding to evolving shareholder and market expectations.”
He said he was “grateful” to Mr Alexander, who has had a long-term relationship with the Packer family, for his work as Crown executive chair over the past three years and also paid tribute to Ms Coonan and new deputy chair Professor John Horvath.
“John has led the company extremely well and I am very pleased that he is remaining on the board to assist the new leadership team. Helen Coonan has a wealth of experience to lead the company as an independent chair and Professor John Horvath will ably assist as an independent deputy chair. Ken Barton has an extensive knowledge of Crown’s businesses as the current CFO and is very well equipped to take on the role of chief executive. On behalf of all shareholders I wish them well.”
Crown officials and Mr Packer are set to appear before an inquiry by the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority into Crown’s suitability to hold a restricted casino licence in NSW, which will investigate Mr Packer’s move to sell 19.99 per cent of his shareholding to Melco.
The move heralds a new era in leadership at Crown, with Ms Coonan becoming its first female chair, though she did play down the move to appoint her and Mr Barton in the two key roles at the company as the mark of a new sweeping new changes.
While Ms Coonan said there would be a “new team with invigorated objectives” with Mr Barton at helm, but said “the best way to describe it is we have stability. We have all got deep knowledge of the business and connection to it.
“I think that stability is very important as we face fairly serious challenges coming our way. We didn’t think it was the best time to up-end the place.”
She said Crown would be “co-operative and welcomed the opportunity to co-operate with all of the processes of those inquiries. That does focus you. These kind of challenges for companies can be good and you can grow through it. You can get much stronger.”
Mr Barton has been CFO of Crown since March 2010 and will have a $3m annual base salary. He is taking over a business set to deliver the Barangaroo luxury casino, hotel and apartment project in Sydney, which is slated to open this December.
Crown also named director and former AFL boss Andrew Demetriou as chairman of Crown Melbourne, Jane Halton as chair of Crown Sydney Gaming and John Poynton as chair of Perth’s Burswood.
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