Dissent stirs The Rock board
A second round of shareholder agitation may be in the wind at The Rock Building Society. The board of the Rockhampton-based financier yesterday said Trio C (a company associated with FirstMac managing director Kim Cannon) was seeking the appointment of Rod Minnell to the board. Minnell is an executive director of FirstMac (a Brisbane-based wholesale mortgage funder).In a letter to shareholders published via the ASX, the board of The Rock raised "serious governance concerns" over the suggested appointment of Minell. These concerns appear to be nothing more than the fact that Minell works for another financier, and a minor rival, and the fact that, were he appointed, The Rock may have to appoint yet another director to maintain the balance of independent directors.At last year's annual meeting Darryl Fennell, Rockhampton property developer, campaigned for the defeat of the four directors up for re-election.On that occasion Fennell secured around 3.5 million shareholder votes against the directors, but the board carried the day with about 5.5 million votes.