Magellan’s new man on board of Barrenjoey

Magellan Financial Group has formally replaced departed chief executive Brett Cairns on the board of Barrenjoey Capital Partners.

Magellan's former CEO Brett Cairns. Picture: Jane Dempster / The Australian

Magellan Financial Group, the stricken fund manager that lost its chief executive, Brett Cairns, early this month, has formally replaced him on the board of Barrenjoey Capital Partners with its head of governance and advisory, Craig Wright.

Magellan owns 40 per cent of the investment bank, which was established with the support of British giant Barclays in September last year.

Documents lodged with the corporate regulator show Mr Wright joined the board of Barrenjoey on December 13, shortly after Dr Cairns’s departure.

Dr Cairns was widely expected to exit Barrenjoey after he ­abruptly quit the Hamish Douglass-chaired Magellan on ­December 6.

Mr Wright joins a board full of corporate and investment banking high-flyers including former UBS corporate finance chief Guy Fowler, ex-Deutsche Bank deputy chief executive John Cincotta, businessman David Gonski and former Coalition minister Kelly O’Dwyer.

Mr Wright, who has been at Magellan since 2014, was previously at Deutsche Bank, and worked at British firms Rentokil Initial and Hertz.

Magellan is yet to appoint a new permanent chief executive after the departure of Dr Cairns, who has signed a nondisclosure agreement preventing him from discussing his exit.

Magellan told the ASX Dr Cairns had left for “personal reasons”, although The Australian has since reported that the board had raised concerns about his management style with the then CEO shortly before his exit.

Kirsten Morton is acting as chief executive, and there is an expectation within the company that she will be given the position on a permanent basis.

Another option explored by company insiders is Airlie Funds Management portfolio manager John Sevior, although he is said not to be interested in the role.

Magellan purchased Airlie Funds Management along with US wealth group Frontier Partners in a $140m deal announced in February 2018.

Along with Barclays – which owns 9.9 per cent of the investment bank – Barrenjoey has quickly established a major local presence, luring more than 230 staff from rivals.

The Australian’s Margin Call column reported in October that the company had made a loss of $114m to June 30, with staff costs equated to $82m.

At the end of the period, Barrenjoey had cash and cash equivalents of $197.6m, while a further $50m from Magellan remains undrawn.

Momentum, the group said, was expected to increase in the 2022 financial year while all of its business units would begin generating revenue, which “will ­materially improve its financial performance”.