Packaging giant Pact Group Holdings Ltd. CEO and Managing Director Malcolm Bundey has resigned suddenly.
Pact told the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that Bundey will take leave and then "depart the company" but be available until March 8 to "assist with a smooth transition while the board searches for a new CEO."
Chairman Raphael Geminder, who owns 40 percent of publicly listed Pact, was appointed executive chairman to run Pact until a new CEO is appointed.
When Pact announced its results last month for the fiscal year to June 30, which included a profit decline, its share price dropped 22 percent. Analysts criticized the company for its aggressive acquisition program.
On the same day it announced the profit drop, Pact said it will pay A$122 million (US$88.1 million)to buy TIC Retail Accessories Pty. Ltd. (TICRA), a division of the privately owned logistics and supply chain company TIC Group Pty. Ltd., based in the Melbourne suburb of Altona North.
TICRA collects plastic garment hangers and clothing security tags from retailers after products are sold, reconditions them, and resupplies them to clothing manufacturers.
Bundey, 56, joined Pact in 2015. He is Australian born and educated but had lived in the United States for several years before returning to take up the Pact role. Previous jobs include serving as president and CEO of Closure System International and CEO of Graham Packaging Co. Inc.
Geminder defended the company, saying "there are pockets inside the business that are not performing ... acquisitions take time to bed down and get the synergies. I hear cynics say we buy our growth. That just isn't true. The entire material handling business is all organic growth."