Greg Hutchings was, they still say, the “epitome” of the 80s entrepreneur.
He joined engineering co Tomkins in 1984 to lead the firm — in classic-corporate raider style — to a 350 per cent outperformance of its sector over the next seven years. Hutchings quit in 2000, however, in a cloud of controversy over company perks and with the final three years of his tenure underperforming the same sector by about 20 per cent.
The experience left him angry and bitter and, and yearning to run a Footsie company once again. Private equity firm Lupus Capital, which he joined in 2004 as executive chairman, was to be his comeback vehicle.
As of Wednesday morning, however, Hutchings was on his way out again, to be replaced by one , err, Michael Jackson.
From the Lupus statement:
Following the successful negotiation of new banking arrangements, Greg Hutchings, Executive Chairman, is to step down from the Board and his resignation as a Director is with immediate effect. Michael Jackson, currently a non-executive Director, has been appointed non-executive Chairman with immediate effect.
Which means Hutchings’ career timeline now looks like this:
