The Daily Telegraph ran a lengthy obituary on Steve Marshall today, who died recently at the young age of 60. It covered his financial career in a not particularly complimentary way although some might say he took on a lot of difficult positions.
He first came to public prominence when he became CEO of Railtrack after Gerald Corbett was forced to resign, despite having minimal experience of the railway industry. Railtrack was part of the former British Rail that had been privatised and then ran into a number of problems. Indeed the financial difficulties seemed to escalate under Marshall and the company had to be nationalised (Marshall promptly resigned) as it was on the verge of bankruptcy according to the Government. Shareholders got some compensation but only after a fight. The business was renamed Network Rail and is a rather peculiar private “not for profit” company. If Jeremy Corbyn ever gets elected, he may change the status and ownership yet again.
Steve Marshall was an accountant by training and served as finance director of Thorn EMI before his stint at Railtrack. The Telegraph mentions the disappointment of some bondholders in Thorn EMI when the company was sold to Nomura.
After Railtrack, Marshall took on the role of troubleshooter being involved with Queens Moat Hotels, Delta, Torex Retail, Balfour Beatty, Biffa and Wincanton. The Telegraph has nothing positive to say about any of these roles.
I had some contact with Marshall when I represented shareholders in Torex Retail. We were so concerned about the actions of Marshall, and the company’s bankers (RBS) after the company ran into financial difficulties due to an accounting fraud, that a requisition for an EGM to remove him and the other directors and replace them was submitted. There was a good chance of winning the vote. This was pre-empted when Marshall promptly invoked a “pre-pack” administration – a good example of the dubious nature of such transactions.
There were other offers on the table to that from the buyer preferred by the board and RBS but they were ignored. I never did understand why, but it was certainly plain that the interests of RBS seemed to take priority over those of the ordinary shareholders. It has of course subsequently become apparent that RBS treated many of their customers who got into financial difficulties and got involved with their “Global Restructuring Group” in the most appalling manner – see the internet for lots of examples of how money was extracted and business ownership coerced.
So in conclusion, are there any investors who gained from Marshall’s activities in the companies with which he was involved? Now is the time to speak out if so!
Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )
Sad to hear about Mr Marshall’s death – he seemed to be the only top Railtrack official to come out of that utter shambles with any dignity.
You state: ‘The business was renamed Network Rail and is a rather peculiar private “not for profit” company.’
Indeed Railtrack morphed into NR, structured by the government in 2002 as an off-balance-sheet ‘company limited by guarantee’ within the private sector, despite the government being lender of last resort. However in 2013 the Office For National Statistics decided to reclassify NR as a public sector body. The government eventually agreed that it could no longer pretend otherwise and formally made the change as of September 2014.