Builder Vistry rocked by board bust-up as third director departs

Homebuilder Vistry — whose brands include Bovis Homes — has been thrown into boardroom chaos by the sudden resignation of its top independent director.

Ashley Steel, a former vice president of accounting firm KPMG, became the third board member to resign in a month when she resigned last week after less than two years.

The unrest threatens to reignite the squabble over fat cat rewards for housing bosses at a time when young people are struggling to afford a house.

No reason was given for Steel’s departure. However, it comes just a few weeks after she was called up to chair Vistry’s pay panel following a boardroom row over plans to award CEO Greg Fitzgerald a massive “Jeff Fairburn-style” bonus package.

Fairburn was the former CEO of Persimmon who became synonymous with executive greed when he pocketed a £75 million bonus under a no cap wage scheme.

Shares of the homebuilder had soared, thanks in part to the taxpayer-backed Help to Buy scheme.

Under Vistry’s proposal, which was rejected by the board, Fitzgerald would have been eligible to receive £60 million if the shares reached £18 within three years. They closed at £7.80 on Friday and valued the company at £2.7 billion.

Steel had replaced Nigel Keen, who abruptly left last month as head of Vistry’s remuneration committee in protest of the controversial pay plan.

Another director, Katherine Innes Ker, also announced that she is stepping down. Directors feared the proposal would generate similar bad publicity to that over Fairburn, who was ousted as Persimmon’s boss in 2018.

Vistry’s pay plan would be backed by US activist investors Inclusive Capital and Browning West. They also encourage the company to grow its partnerships business, which provides affordable housing to housing associations. The Mail on Sunday can also reveal that Fitzgerald, who made £2.4 million from Vistry last year, pocketed a further £1.6 million as part-time chairman of his Devon-based homebuilder Baker Estates.

In addition, he received £421,000 in interest on loans he had made to Baker, who had recently built up a £5 million stake in Vistry.

Based in Kent, Vistry became one of the UK’s largest homebuilders after buying Countryside six months ago in a £1.2 billion deal.

It’s not clear whether Fitzgerald’s bumper bonus plan will be revived following the eviction of three key board members. Ralph Findlay, Vistry’s chairman, would have agreed to review the plan.

Steel’s departure comes just two weeks before she was due to run for re-election at Vistry’s annual meeting.

In a statement to investors, Findlay praised her “valuable contribution” during “a period of significant change.”

Vistry said he was “completely comfortable” with Fitzgerald’s role at Baker Estates. His involvement did not affect his responsibilities to Vistry, the company added, and had been disclosed in all annual reports since he joined Bovis Homes in 2017.

UNACCEPTABLE FAT CAT PAY’S FACE

Unacceptable: Jeff Fairburn earned a £75 million bonus in 2018

Jeff Fairburn became the unacceptable face of fat cat pay when he bagged a £75m bonus in 2018 on a taxpayer funded housing scheme.

The jackpot was one of the largest in company history and made the former boss of homebuilder Persimmon the UK’s highest paid executive.

His stimulus plan had no upper limit. Critics said it paid off so well because the government’s Help to Buy plan had boosted Persimmon’s profits and share price.

Wage activists called it “excessive and undeserved.” The negative publicity eventually forced Fairburn to quit.

He is listed as holding 27 active directorships at Companies House, including private home builder Berkeley DeVeer, where he serves as CEO.

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