Families still hold sway after floats

The term ‘family business’ is typically associated with private companies, yet people like Rupert Murdoch, Kerry Packer and Frank Lowy have proven it to have a much wider import.

They have put their sons into key management and board positions in their publicly listed companies – News Corporation, Publishing & Broadcasting and Westfield respectively – and groomed them as successors.

Perth business tycoons such as Kerry Stokes, John Roberts and Harold Clough have also faced the unique challenges of having a strong family presence in a publicly listed company, with mixed success.

The planned public float of Automotive Holdings Group will add to the list of prominent Western Australian ‘family’ businesses to have listed on the stock market.

AHG was originally founded by the late Syd Wheatley in 1952 and was subsequently built by his sons, Peter and Vern, to be the largest automotive dealer group in WA.

The Wheatley family is the major shareholder in the business but reduced its direct influence last year after Vern Wheatley stepped down as chairman and his wife, Jo, retired from the board.

Mr Wheatley remains a director and his daughter, Michelle Wheatley Harris, has also joined the board.

The chairman’s seat is occupied by Bob Branchi, who held the managing director’s post for 19 years. Chief executive Bronte Howson is also a director of the company.

Kerry Stokes, who made his fortune in Perth, is best known as executive chairman and major shareholder of the Seven Network.

His son, Ryan Stokes, was thrust into the limelight in 2003 when he was appointed executive director of Seven’s magazine subsidiary, Pacific Publications.

Ryan Stokes has held a variety of board positions at his father’s businesses, including that of alternate director for his father at Seven since 2001.

His position changed again last February when he became chairman of Pacific Publications.

Multiplex chairman John Roberts brought his children into Multiplex while it was still privately owned and now they face the greater scrutiny that comes with being publicly listed.

Sydney-based Andrew Roberts is managing director of Multiplex and his Perth-based younger brother Tim is a director of the parent company and managing director of the development division.

Their sister, Denby, also works in the business in a management role.

Andrew faced his first post-float crisis early this year when Multiplex disclosed difficulties with its Wembley Stadium project in London.

The company showed itself to be an unusual hybrid of a ‘public’ and a ‘family’ company when the Roberts family agreed to indemnify Multiplex up to $50 million for any losses on the Wembley project.

Clough Limited operated for many years as a privately owned engineering business but that started to change when patriarch Harold Clough granted shares to some of his long-serving staff. That was followed by a public listing of the company in 1998, when the family still held 81 per cent of the shares.

The family has progressively reduced its shareholding and now has a minority interest, and has also reduced its board influence, in part under pressure from external investors who were not happy with the company’s performance.

However, Harold continues as a director and his son, Jock, is chairman.

Other listed WA companies with a strong family flavour include industrial company Schaffer Corporation and wine producer Evans & Tate.

Schaffer Corporation, founded by George Schaffer, has been run by his son John since 1978. His daughter Danielle Blain was a senior executive until 2001 but is now better known as state president of the Liberal Party.

Evans & Tate has been run by Franklin Tate, son of company founder John Tate, since 1994.