Mirvac Group’s capital markets executive Jonathan Hannam is leaving the listed property trust following sweeping job cuts across the business that extended into the upper reaches of management.
Mr Hannam was the first top-level hire made by managing director Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz after she was appointed in 2012.
News of redundancies at Mirvac emerged in June, when The Australian reported 75 job cuts had been made at the business in a move analysts predicted would boost earnings.
However, the trust has had a torrid time of late with revelations emerging that former employees had made secret payments to the construction union in Queensland.
It has also been forced to tread water in its quest to acquire the management arm and two investment stakes in Morgan Stanley’s sprawling office landlord, Investa Property Group.
The $400 million-plus deal, which would propel Mirvac into the top league of real estate fund managers, has been derailed by a series of obstacles recently and increased the chances the trust will walk away empty-handed.
A final verdict will not be known for at least another two weeks, when Investa’s blue-chip unlisted vehicle, the $3bn-plus ICPF is due to submit a formal bid for its management.
In the meantime, Mirvac’s unit price has drifted downwards, slipping 6.2 per cent over the past two weeks, to close at $1.67 — 5c below its net tangible asset base of $1.73.
The decline has revived expectations Mirvac may become a takeover target. Stockland, headed by Mark Steinert, has been mooted as a suitor in the past. The group has long coveted a move into medium-density residential developments.
Ironically, ICPF’s decision to pursue an internalisation rather than sign up with Mirvac is due to the wishes of its investors, and the largest of these by a long stretch is the Victorian Funds Management Corporation.
The $46.6bn VFMC, which holds close to 17 per cent of ICPF, is now chaired by former Mirvac chairman James MacKenzie. Last month, Elana Rubin, a director at Mirvac, also secured a board seat.
According to sources, Morgan Stanley, which has been advised by UBS in its selldown of Investa Property Group, has yet to fully engage with ICPF.
It’s understood the US bank has trained its guns on closing out the $2.45bn sale of Investa’s directly-held office towers to China’s sovereign wealth fund, CIC. That deal, first reported by DataRoom, is due to settle next week.
Elsewhere, Westfield Group’s US-based chief operating officer Greg Miles is returning to Australia to becoming the COO of the company’s local offshoot, Scentre Group, sources said.
It comes with speculation that Steven Sewell has plans to relocate from Melbourne to Sydney after recently being replaced as the Federation Centres chief executive by Angus McNaughton.
The anticipated move has fuelled suggestions that the former Macquarie and Charter Hall real estate fund manager could be angling for a role in another sector.
A seasoned property executive, Mr Sewell is also known to have an interest in the information technology space, along with previous experience in the gaming industry.
He is also understood to hold private interests in a radiology business.
this article first appeared in The Australian Business Review.