Blue Sky board veteran steps down due to health reasons

Another board member has resigned from under-siege Blue Sky Alternative Investments (ASX: BLA) with Michael Gordon stepping down as a non-executive director for health reasons.

Gordon's resignation is effective immediately and his departure is another blow for the Brisbane-based company which is in turmoil following the release of a report by short seller Glaucus Research which claimed Blue Sky had "wildly exaggerated" its assets under management (AUM) and valued its share price at less than a quarter of its then-price.

Gordon is highly respected in the financial services and funds management industry in Australia, the UK and Asia and has more than 30 years' experience.

Before joining Blue Sky, he was Group Executive for Perpetual Investments where he was responsible for over $30 billion of funds under management for institutional and retail clients.

Prior to Perpetual, Gordon held roles as global Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at BNP Paribas Investment Partners in London, global CIO at Fidelity International worldwide and was joint managing director and CIO for Schroders in Australia.

In the six weeks since the highly critical report, BLA shares have plummeted from $11.52 to Monday's price of $2.73 and the company has abandoned guidance.

Last week, Blue Sky announced a second purge of its board including the exit of chairman John Kain while executive director and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Alexander McNab announced his retirement.

It was also announced that Tim Wilson will step down as independent non-executive director but  continue in his executive role as managing director of Blue Sky's Private Equity business.

The role of CIO will also be cut and be replaced by the position of Chief Risk Officer.

Three weeks ago managing director Robert Shand resigned in the first round of departures and was replaced by interim managing director Kim Morison.

Executive directors Elaine Stead and Nicholas Dignam also stepped down from the board, but will continue in their executive roles in the business.

The company has started the search for a permanent managing director as well as new independent directors to fill out the board. Blue Sky says it hopes to have these positions filled before the AGM in October.

Ben Hall - Business News Australia - 14 May 2018