New Zealand’s funds management industry is mourning the loss last week of one of its most influential and successful figures, former head of AMP Capital, Roger Greville.
Greville, who died in Queenstown on August 10 after a skiing accident, was a friend and mentor to many in the New Zealand funds business – more than a few of whom occupy senior positions in the industry today.
Close friend and another former head of AMP Capital, Murray Gribben, told media Greville was a “good bugger” who lived life to the full.
“He was a colleague and a really good friend,” Gribben told the New Zealand Herald last week. “He was very straight-forward about everything he did. He never left you wondering about what he was doing and what he wanted to do.”
Current AMP Capital NZ chief, Grant Hassell, said Greville, who he worked under in Wellington, was a “likeable bloke” who was “always interested in bettering himself”.
“As managing director, he didn’t just sit in the office,” Hassell said. “He always walked the floor and talked to the people in the business.
“We were deeply saddened to hear of his death and extend our condolences to his family.”
A group of Greville’s former colleagues plan to meet this week in Wellington to commemorate his life.
After an early career that included roles at Reserve Bank and Treasury, Greville first joined AMP Investments – as it was then known – in 1992. He held several senior roles in the firm in Sydney and New Zealand, including chief executive, as it went through various identity changes.
In 1998 when AMP Capital bought out UK investment business Henderson Group to form AMP Henderson Global Investors, Greville was cherry-picked to head the firm’s private equity division in London.
He stayed on at the UK firm following the controversial 2003 demerger with AMP, retaining the position of managing director Henderson Equity Partners until 2011.
Greville returned to live in Sydney after leaving Henderson but returned regularly to New Zealand.
He leaves behind a wife and two adult children.
Greville was 58.