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New finance chief will ride the waves at Six Flags.
By Denise Bedell
John Duffy has joined the global theme park operator Six Flags Entertainment, as its new chief financial officer. Duffy, former CFO of Dade Behring, became EVP and Chief Integration Officer of Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics after Dade’s acquisition by the Siemens subsidiary.
Duffy will have some interesting challenges ahead, as the park operator just came out of bankruptcy proceedings in April—after filing for Chapter 11 protection in June of 2009.
Six Flags was hard hit by the crisis, as consumers cut out unnecessary spend and park attendance figures plummeted.
Then, during its bankruptcy work-out, bondholders squabbled over the right of one hedge fund involved in the reorganization to dump bonds it felt were going to lose value under the new arrangements.
Hedge fund Avenue Capital Group outraged other creditors when it offloaded lower-ranked bonds after being part of the restructuring discussions. Although its actions were perfectly legal, the debate was central to furthering federal judiciary discussions around the need to revamp rules on what creditors should reveal about corporate debt trading when involved bankruptcy proceedings.
After the restructuring and after emerging from Chapter 11, Duffy’s new job may not be quite such a roller coaster of thrills and spills. The company posted a second quarter profit this year of $743.5 million - although that includes $732.5 million in new equity received during the restructuring.
Regardless, Duffy is well qualified to take the finance reins, having led Dade Behring through a debt restructuring and cost cutting exercise, and eventually through an IPO, before its acquisition by Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics.
Duffy will replace Jeffrey Speed, who, according to a release, is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities.
In Brief
Simon Dingemans, Goldman Sachs’ European mergers and acquisitions business chief, will join UK pharmaceuticals powerhouse GlaxoSmithKline as CFO, replacing retiring CFO Julian Heslop, who will end his term in March.
Fertilizer manufacturing and distribution company CF Industries, will lose its senior vice president and chief financial officer, Anthony Nocchiero, who is retiring this month. The company announced that it will consider internal and external applicants to fill the position.
Larry Ryder, CFO of Hooker Furniture, will also retire--taking leave of the firm in January next year after 33 years of service. Paul Huckfeldt, currently the company's chief accounting officer, will take over the CFO role.
SL Industries has appointed Corporate Controller Louis Belardi as Chief Financial Officer, Secretary, and Treasurer. Before joining the company in 2004, Belardi was a partner and consultant in his own management consultancy.
California’s Valley Presbyterian Hospital announced that CFO Bob Allen is leaving to take over the CFO role at Catholic Healthcare West’s California Hospital Medical Center and Glendale Memorial Hospital.
Biotech firm Oncothyreon has appointed Julie Eastland as CFO and vice president of corporate development. She will be responsible for financial management, investor relations and business development.
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