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Corporate Travel Management (ASX: CTD) chairman Tony Bellas has announced his sudden retirement, with Ewen Crouch to take over effective from Monday.
Bellas has been chairman of Corporate Travel Management for 10 years and has overseen the company's rapid growth from listing on the ASX in 2010 with a $70 million valuation to its current market capitalisation of $2.7 billion.
Corporate Travel Management succession process for Bellas began in September, 2018. Bellas retired at the Annual General Meeting on October 31, 2018, but agreed to be re-appointed to the role on a temporary basis until a permanent appointment.
"Tony Bellas has made an exceptional contribution to the success of Corporate Travel Management and we thank him for his leadership, guidance and the commitment he has given to the company," the company's founder and managing director Jamie Pherous said in an ASX statement.
The announcement comes just days after the company was queried by the ASX over the transfer of company shares worth $4.5 million from a super fund. The beneficiaries were Bellas and his ex-wife Maria Bellas.
As part of the Bellas' divorce proceedings, a court ordered the funds be transferred and Tony Bellas signed documents to ensure the future transfer of those shares.
However, Tony Bellas reportedly believed the court order contained an error which would delay the transfer of shares. However, the shares were in fact transferred in February and Bellas said this happened without his knowledge.
This was in breach of ASX rules in which the market should be notified within five days of such transactions.
On Monday, Corporate Travel Management issued a statement saying that it did not believe disciplinary or remedial action was necessary.
The incoming chairman, Ewen Crouch, is currently a director of Westpac and BlueScope Steel. From 1988 to 2013 he was a Partner at Allens and was a member of the firm's board for 11 years.
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