Grant O’Brien exits Woolworths with trolley groaning

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The market saw $965 million worth of reasons to buy Woolies yesterday on the news that Grant O’Brien was out the door.

The stock bounced almost 3 per cent before investors realised nothing had really changed and chairman Ralph Waters was only promising that O’Brien was leaving some time over the next 13 months.

Once investors worked that out the stunning bump was reversed, with Woolies closing 4c down at $26.80.

O’Brien’s contract meant he had to give 12 months notice, but if it’d played out like that he would have missed the retirement fund — which he’s been paying into for almost three decades — by three weeks.

Instead, in a sweet deal cooked up with Waters, O’Brien will work until at least November, either as CEO or helping his replacement settle into the top office.

Beyond that he’ll throw his feet up and feed off nine months of accumulated paid long-service and annual leave until he turns 55 in July next year and becomes entitled to his stash of cash (Margin Call, May 22).

Woolies is keeping the amount secret — flack Claire Kimball was fielding so many calls yesterday her mailbox was as full as a Coles trolley — but speculation has ranged from less than $10m to as high as $40m by some learned analysts.

We can just see retiree O’Brien, a one-time apprentice electrician, enjoying the fresh air and sea views from the vast balcony of his four-bedroom, three-bathroom $6.1m Manly apartment, bought last year from former Whitehaven boss Tony Haggarty.

Non-profit irons in fire

Along with splashing out on retirement digs, O’Brien has also put a few irons in the fire to keep him occupied when his days get long and lonely.

He’s believed to be casting his attention to the not-for-profit sector, which will be happy to have him given the size of his retirement cheque.

He’s already on the board of the Avner Nahmani Pancreatic Cancer Fund, which was named in honour of O’Brien’s late tennis partner mate from Tassie, a former senior Woolies exec who died of the disease. Woolies is a major donor to the fund.

O’Brien is also a director of a brand new vehicle — The Stars Foundation, whose board also includes Sue Beecher, wife of media mini mogul Eric, former Labor pollie Martin Ferguson and former Rio boss David Peever. The new foundation is a counterpart to the Clontarf Foundation, raising funds for the education of young indigenous Australian girls.

Retirement also brings more time to share a cuppa with wife Mary Washington, whom he met many moons ago when she was a lawyer at Woolies.

Washington left the company when O’Brien became the big boss, but will now have to get used to him hanging around the house a bit more.

Another one leaves

Woolies finally fessed up yesterday that online exec Penny Winn was, yes, leaving in favour of life as a non-executive director (Margin Call, May 22).

She will hang around until the end of October to assist with transition to her new replacement, which is expected to come from Woolie’s (slimmed down) internal ranks. At least someone is keeping their job.

Much like old Woolies boss Roger Corbett, who was yesterday up into the wee small hours watching things unfold from Norway, Winn will not be considered for the spare seat on the Woolies board.

Chairman Waters thinks Corbett, 74, is too old, while Winn is considered too close to the company — a scenario which doesn’t seem to bother anyone at Wesfarmers.

CBA’s exit example

While OBrien’s (non) exit left the market confused, they know how to do goodbyes at the CBA.

Sir Ralph Norris was among star attendees saying goodbye to CBA investor relations stalwart Warwick Bryan at the bank’s swish Sydney headquarters a few days ago. Despite coming all the way from his home over the ditch for his old charge, Sir Ralph let CEO Ian Narev do all the talking.

Narev recalled many investor roadshows during Bryan’s almost 10-year gig at the bank, including the infamous “roadie’’ martinis regularly downed during their stays in New York.

He also recalled the bank’s now infamous botched capital raising with Merrill Lynch during the GFC, that was rescued by UBS. CFO David Craig also noted that only the best brokers and fundies scored an invitation to the event, prompting many to scan the room to see who didn’t make it.

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