EIRCOM CHIEF executive Rex Comb will step down from his post in June and return to his native Australia with his family to pursue other career opportunities.
Mr Comb’s decision is believed to have taken senior members of the Eircom executive team by surprise. The announcement followed a company board meeting yesterday.
In an interview with The Irish Times, Mr Comb said: "I've given the board plenty of notice that I'm going home. I'll head back to Australia with the family after the kids have finished school here."
The Australian executive said he will return to Melbourne but has not yet lined up another job. He will not be taking up a role with Babcock Brown, the Australian investment group that took control of Eircom in 2006 and installed Mr Comb as its chief executive.
“I need to have a break for a few weeks,” he said. “Often, in these situations, when you’ve announced your plans to leave, the phone starts to ring.”
His departure will coincide with the end of Eircom’s financial year.
Mr Comb came to Ireland in November 2005 following Australian investment group Babcock Brown’s initial purchase of a stake in the Irish telecoms group. He took charge of the business in September 2006.
Speculation about Eircom’s future has been rife for many months given the financial difficulties being experienced by Babcock in Australia. Investment bank UBS was hired to carry out a strategic review and reports last week suggested that Singapore Telecom had made contact with the advisers in relation to a possible sale of the Irish business, which has net debts of about €3.9 billion.
Mr Comb declined to comment on these reports.
In relation to the effect of the recession on Eircom’s business, Mr Comb said: “Spending is starting to slow down.” He said all costs within the company were being reviewed, including payroll.
He said Eircom’s planned capital expenditure of €350 million for the year to the end of June would not be affected.
Separately, Babcock Brown Capital (BCM), the Australian listed fund that controls Eircom, is renegotiating the terms of a recent A$50 million termination deal of a management contract agreed with Babcock. A proposal to rename the fund as Eircom Holdings has also been deferred.
BCM is a satellite fund of Babcock, which is struggling with large debts and has had its shares suspended.
An egm of BCM shareholders to consider the deal has been postponed by up to one month until March 30th.
“It has been agreed that BCM and Babcock Brown will enter into good faith negotiations [for 14 days] regarding an amendment to the key terms of the agreement to terminate the existing management agreement,” BCM said.
