FORMER Hartley Poynton analyst David Franklyn has joined the inner sanctum at privitised utility AlintaGas following a brief flirtation with funds management.
Mr Franklyn has been appointed general manager – corporate communications, a role which makes him part of the core management team reporting directly to managing director Bob Browning.
The move is a big change for the Perth analyst who stepped out of Hartley Poynton only a few months ago to establish himself as an independent consultant as well as providing expertise to Adelaide-based MMC Asset Management, which is 20 per cent owned by WA’s Australian Heritage Group.
Mr Franklyn said the approach from AlintaGas came out of the blue and he was intially cool to the idea.
But after realising the potential breadth of the role, with investor relations likely to form only a small part of the overall job, he became more receptive.
“They need capital markets experience,” Mr Franklyn said.
“They have to make acquisitions and grow, so there is a corporate development side to it as well.”
“The more I thought about it the more it interested me.”
The move is a bold one for the former analyst who quit the stockbroking industry in August, ending 15 years in the business, to go into independent funds management.
Mr Franklyn said it was a dramatic change, which is probably what he was after because the funds management role did not seem to offer the different perspective he was looking for.
“It is a pretty significant change and I think I needed that,” Mr Franklyn said. “I was not motivated by the funds management as much as I thought I would be.”
