Aaron Erter unplugged
James Hardie's CEO is saying one thing while doing another.
James Hardie's annual general meeting in Dublin on Thursday morning (Sydney time) threatens to be a bloodbath. The survival prospects of chairwoman Anne Lloyd and her five colleagues seeking re-election to the board are entirely unclear.
The company's love rat CEO Aaron Erter must've believed that a few choice words from him would lift their cause, when in fact his continued silence would've been highly advisable. Erter's seal of approval is today's equity market equivalent of an endorsement from Charles Manson.
Joe Aston
Erter is a picture of defiance. He told The Australian Financial Review on Sunday that concerns about his professional history with two new James Hardie directors (joining from the board of Hardie's acquisition, Azek) are "ridiculous," yet did not explain what was ridiculous about those concerns.
He conceded that "the size of the [acquisition] target was probably a surprise" to James Hardie shareholders – and that's because Erter bait-and-switched them by muttering sweet nothings last year about a small acquisition, then blew their brains out on Azek.
Asked whether he could or should have given his shareholders a vote on such a company-altering transaction, he responded, "You could say, 'could you, should you'. The deal is done". That's right, Aussies, there's no lookin' back. Eat. My. Dust.