IT is no secret that there is some bad blood between former Hartley Poynton executive chairman John Poynton and his one-time managing director, Tim Moore.
Mr Poynton quit the stockbroker established by his father Hartley after an epic boardroom battle just before the company floated in 1996.
He took with him the core of a fledgling investment banking operation, Poynton and Partners, that he and his cohorts have since sold for at least $34 million and possibly closer to $60 million if certain targets are met.
It is an enormous amount of money and is often compared to the sums spent developing JDV, though Mr Moore says that is closer to $20 million.
Mr Poynton’s success, and his closeness to some of his former broking companions, leads to the inevitable questions: what if he hadn’t left? What if he came back?
It should, therefore, be no surprise that some Hartley brokers approached Mr Poynton last year with a view to establishing a new brokerage, following in the footsteps of Euroz’s successful split from Paterson Ord Minnett.
That plan is understood to have fallen apart.
Last week, Mr Poynton went public with his concerns in an article published by BRW.
Somewhat prophetically, he suggested a rebranding, along the lines of what was announced the same day as the report.
With such a history, it would no doubt be in Mr Moore’s favour to have some reconciliation with his former boss, particularly now the Poynton name has been dropped altogether.
But Mr Poynton said while the name change has positive elements for him there was nothing to reconcile.
“On a private level it is disappointing it had to come to that (name change),” he said.
“The business is no longer what it used to be.”
Mr Poynton also said that, at a professional level, the rebranding would end confusion in the investment banking market.
But that’s it, Mr Poynton said.
“To think there is a problem that needed reconciliation is ridiculous.”
