Liddy's last hurrah may produce big deal for BOQ
The Age
Wednesday March 10, 2010
BANK of Queensland chief executive David Liddy is looking to pull off one more sizeable acquisition before he brings down the curtain on a 40-year career in banking, 10 of which will have been spent at the helm of the Brisbane-based institution.Mr Liddy (right), a former Westpac boss who took over at BOQ in 2001, is expected to retire next year after last week handing over day-to-day operations to his likely successor, Ram Kangatharan.That has freed up Mr Liddy to target the next deal that BOQ believes is key to maintaining any kind of challenge to the big four, whose combined market share has grown dramatically as a result of the financial crisis.BOQ's last big purchase was the $600 million acquisition of the West Australian-based Home Building Society more than two years ago. Mr Liddy was deeply disappointed that a controversial $2.5 billion merger plan put to Bendigo Bank in 2007 was rejected by his regional rival.Bendigo went on to seal a $4 billion tie-up with Adelaide Bank while BOQ bought Home as a consolation prize.Mr Liddy has indicated that BOQ needs to expand if it is to fill the gap in the industry league table opened up by the purchases of St George and Bankwest by Westpac and Commonwealth Bank respectively.BOQ last year toyed with the idea of bringing in a major cornerstone investor to help fund its expansion through its "Project Pathways" initiative but opted instead for a $340 million equity raising to build a war chest to underpin organic growth and possible acquisitions.It has also built up tier 1 capital to well above regulatory requirements.Having last year overhauled BOQ's management and operational structure, Mr Liddy has now cleared the decks for one last deal.Aged 59, he will celebrate his 10th anniversary at BOQ in April next year and a recently granted bonus deal will be triggered on the release of the bank's 2010 annual results in October.
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