Who is the CEO of Allen?

SingTel-Optus' new chief executive Allen Lew says his job will be to "reinvigorate" the Australian company and help it grow in the face of tough competition from rivals such as Telstra and analysts' forecasts that its revenues will shrink.

Mr Lew was long seen as the heir-apparent at Optus' parent company SingTel. But in a surprise move on Friday the Singaporean telco executive announced he would take on the role of running its Australian division.

Familiar face: New CEO Allen Lew held senior roles at Optus between 2001 and 2006.Credit:Paul Jones

The move sees SingTel's senior management taking far more direct control of its local operations than ever before. The company has a market capitalisation of $53.4 billion and 48 per cent of revenue in financial year 2014 came from Australia.

The change comes more than 12 months after Optus' previous chief executive Kevin Russell told the company he wanted to quit and follows an extensive global headhunting process that struggled to attract suitable external candidates.

Optus acting chief country officer Paul O'Sullivan will step down from all executive positions to become the company's chairman after 10 years of running and overseeing the company in various roles.

"With the NBN arriving it's a great opportunity for Optus to go to the next level but it needs someone who ... can be visionary and strategic and at the same time they've got to be very operational and win market share," he said.

"I can think of no-one anywhere who's got the same track-record on that as my good friend Allen.

"I'm delighted my baby Optus will have such a great leader ... watch out Telstra, he'll hit them from the left and I'll hit them from the right."

Despite Mr Russell ostensibly running Optus for almost two years until earlier this year, he reported to Mr O'Sullivan and other senior executives in Singapore.

Advertisement

In contrast Mr Lew will report directly to SingTel chief executive Chua Sock Koong.

"I've led Optus in one way or another for around 10 years," Mr O'Sullivan said. "It is my hope I can help contribute to the boards of other major companies.

"It's also a way of helping Optus because I'll have a greater influence."

Mr Lew said SingTel believed Optus could grow faster than the rest of the telecommunications market.

"[The] Australian consumer is a huge part of SingTel and if we look at it by groups [it is] by far the largest," he said. "I've always had a fondness for Australia ... I did my undergraduate degree in Perth at the University of Western Australia.

"The opportunity for growth in Australia is huge and if you look at the size of the telco market excluding Japan and China it's the largest in the Asia Pacific."

But Credit Suisse research analyst Fraser McLeish said his forecasts showed Optus revenue shrinking by 2 per cent in financial year 2015 with the overall market falling by just 1 per cent.

The independent public listing of Optus by SingTel has long been mooted and some industry executives who declined to be named said Mr Lew's appointment could be part of that strategy.

"We've established a solid platform and recently they've gotten a lot of momentum," he said. "My job is to take it from there and make sure we revitalise Optus further and make it grow faster than the market.

"What happens beyond that is just a consequence and my job as a CEO is to make this baby of ours grow to become a very strong adolescent [and an IPO] is something as a CEO I don't talk about. It's something the shareholders of Optus will look at."

Dr. Costa has more than two decades of experience in bioscience and is a renowned expert in the brain circuitry that underlies movement. His studies focus on the circuits underlying diverse, spontaneous movements, and the organization and refinement of movements during learning. Unraveling these mechanisms could help researchers find better ways of treating disorders of movement, such as Parkinson's disease. Costa's brain circuitry research will continue at the Allen Institute.

Scentre Group chief executive Peter Allen could earn about $15 million this year, and become one of the highest-paid executives in the country, according to revelations at the group's first annual general meeting.

The payout, which is possible if the Scentre share price remains at current levels, is a legacy of long-term incentives agreed over four years ago when Scentre did not exist and when Mr Allen was the finance director of the Westfield Group. In the 12 months to December 31, Mr Allen earned around $6 million.

Scentre, the $20 billion owner and manager of the Westfield shopping centres in Australia and New Zealand, survived a protest vote over its pay policies, with 13.75 per cent of the proxies voting against the group's first remuneration report.

Scentre Group chief executive Peter Allen could earn $15 million this year to become one of the country's best paid chief executives.  Brianne Makin

Chairman Frank Lowy, who revealed after the meeting that the Lowy family holding had not voted on the report, said he could not understand why investors had voted against the report.

"It may have been a misunderstanding over pay."

Advertisement

In essence, investors voted against several relic issues, such as the potential payment to Mr Allen, which related to remuneration structures that pre-date the creation of Scentre Group in June.

Key issue

A key issue was the payment to the former head of Westfield Group's Australian business, Bob Jordan.

The veteran Westfield executive left with a payment equivalent to two year's remuneration, about $2.8 million. Many investors, such as the Australian Shareholders' Association, believe termination payments should be limited to the equivalent of one year's salary.

Scentre Group deputy chairman, and the head of the human resources committee, Brian Schwartz, told security holders some of the remuneration practices of the former Westfield trusts had been changed and others were under review.

He said several pre-existing remuneration agreements were taken into account at the time of the Westfield restructure and would not go forward.

Advertisement

But he stressed the importance of retaining Scentre's "highly experienced and best-in-class management team."

Value of $2 billion

At a generally up-beat meeting, Mr Lowy reminded investors of the $12 billion in value created through the restructure of the Westfield Group and Westfield Retail Trust.

"I am very optimistic about the prospects for Scentre Group in the years ahead," he said, noting Mr Allen had made "an excellent start" in his new role as chief executive.

New director, Aliza Knox, was elected with 99.15 per cent of the vote. She is Twitter's managing director of OnLine Sales, Asia Pacific and Latin America; previously worked for Google, and is a non-executive director of Singapore Post and InvoCare.

One investor, Dr Keith Jones, won the mirth of the meeting, when he asked Mr Lowy if he was planning another restructure. Because the paperwork and time associated with the last restructure was "a challenge" to his 60-year marriage.

Who is the owner of Allen?

In 1988, Shri Rajesh Maheshwari started with just eight students and after a few months Dr.

How rich is Allen Kota?

According to this person, Allen has closed the last fiscal with around Rs 2,500 crore in revenue. The company provides offline, digital and distance courses for IIT JEE, AIPMT, etc. Sources further said the company has around 200K students enrolled in its classroom programme across 36 centres.

Who is Naveen Maheshwari?

Naveen Maheshwari - Director - ALLEN CAREER INSTITUTE | LinkedIn.

What is the net worth of Maheshwari Brothers?

What started with only one centre, one subject (maths), and eight students, and a few thousands in revenue in the first year has now spawned into a massive business empire worth ₹1,600 crore, making the Maheshwaris the biggest in Kota.