Larry Claasen

Rick Jackson’s departure from Sanyati, the construction company he founded 21 years ago, came sooner than he expected.

Jackson, the former CEO and outgoing chairman, says he had been planning to go for some time and initially thought finding his replacement would be difficult.

But after a brief search he met Malcolm Lobban, a chartered accountant who has held executive positions in a variety of companies in the past 10 years.

Jackson says the speed with which Lobban, who was appointed CEO in April 2009, has taken to running Sanyati has left him comfortable enough to make an exit earlier than he expected to.

Lobban’s ability to fit into Sanyati quickly is not that surprising, considering he once held a senior position at rival Murray & Roberts He has also worked with PSG Investment Bank, Alacrity Financial Services and the Imperial Group

Jackson is not indicating why he thinks it’s time for him to move on. He says he is leaving for “personal reasons” and that he wants to work on some property developments that have been on the back burner for some time. Jackson might be holding his reasons for departure close to his chest, but he says the listing of Sanyati, initially on AltX in 2006, was not part of some grand exit plan.

He is not the only Sanyati executive who has left in the past year. Executive director Archie Rutherford departed in May and financial director Marc Krause a month later.

Jackson leaves the group on a sound footing. Revenue has risen from R260m in 2006 to R1,54bn in 2009, the business has expanded out of KwaZulu Natal and it is one of the few companies that has migrated from the junior board to the JSE’s main board.

Unlike some other CEOs who have gone on to list their company, Jackson did not plan to stick around once his time was up. His resignation came into effect almost immediately and he does not even intend to remain on the board as a nonexecutive director. His only connection with the group will be his 8% holding in the company.

Sanyati restructured its board and announced the appointment of Zohra Ebrahim as its new chairman.

Source: Financial Mail