John Watson guest speaker spoke on Incitec Pivot and his involvement.
Pivot was formed in 1919 as a phosphate co-operative producing superphosphate with farmers only as shareholders, farmers initially purchasing shares at $10.
In 1997, corporate raider Doug Shears began buying shares to gain control of the company, with a move to demutualize the company. At that time, the company had 45,000 farmer shareholders and was the biggest co-op in Australia. Having 3 to 4 directors on his side, he ran candidates for the board to gain control.
John Watson and Allan McCallum ran a campaign opposing David Spears candidates, gaining 75% of votes cast. Chair and Deputy Chair controlled AGM and declared John & Allan lost on a technicality. Taking the case to the Victorian Supreme Court, John & Allan won. Following board meeting John was elected chairman.
New directors were recruited, but management was still a problem. Down the track, the CEO made a financial blunder, with banks moving to declare the company insolvent. Working through this in 2003 Pivot merged with Incitec.
In 2006 Southern Cross Fertilisers was purchased and in 2008 Incitec Pivot purchased Dyno-Nobel explosives business, becoming listed in the top 24 companies on the ASX.
In 2011 John retired. Of note, Incitec Pivot is the only manufacturer of urea in Australia, with Ad Blue now produced for the trucking industry.
