Aussie suits up

Aussie Home Loans is positioning itself for corporate activity with the appointment yesterday of Stephen Porges as its new chief executive.

Porges has a 20-year history in investment banking, stockbroking and international banking. His gigs have included head of equity sales for HSBC Investment Bank in New York.

In more recent years he has become a turnaround specialist. He was a director of Cabonne Partners, a recapitalisation and strategic turnaround firm.

He was executive chairman of BMC Media, called Hyro these days. And he was CEO of Proteome Systems, where he "refocused" the business.

His most recent role was chief executive of Newcastle Permanent Building Society.

John Symond, who will continue as executive chairman of Aussie, said the group had weathered the credit crunch in pretty good shape and was ready to take advantage of the opportunities that events of the past year were throwing up.

Symond said: "I want to grow Aussie. I want to leverage the brand.

"With Stephen on board we will have a skill set that will give us a better understanding of funding issues, capital raising and other issues.

"I want the company to be a larger, more diversified financial services institution.

"We are well placed. We have $23 billion in our portfolio and it is a clean book. We have an IT platform that will accommodate a larger sales force. We are profitable."

Symond insisted that despite all the rumours the business was not for sale. "I do not have any investments in any other organisations. I don't own any shares. At age 60 I am not going to start any other business."

He believes current market conditions present Aussie with the best opportunity for growth since the business started 17 years ago.

"In the past few years this became a very cluttered industry. There is going to be a lot less clutter as we come out of this period."