It has now been 11 years since Ian Kirk and Bruce Hemphill faced off in the contest to become the CEO of Liberty Group, which, to the surprise of many, Hemphill eventually won. They now once again face each other as Hemphill completes his first year as CEO of Old Mutual and Kirk completes two full years as head of Sanlam. Hemphill has the melancholy task of playing the role of official executioner of the Old Mutual Group. Many investors thought what Hemphill called managed separation (to split the company into its four main businesses) would be a quickie Las Vegas-style divorce. However, a year after it was announced progress seems to have been limited. But there has been no announcement about, for example, the merchant banks to lead the listing processes, only that a juicy £100m has been provided for advisory work. Hemphill does not have to worry too much about Nedbank or US asset manager OMAM, as they are already listed and have their own governance structures. One obstacle to a l...
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