Retiring Toll Holdings chief executive Paul Little will adopt a hands-on role in relation to the group's merger and acquisition strategy when he takes up a US$130,000 a month consultancy agreement with the group next year, reported The Australian.

    Although Little said that the exact nature of his consultancy role would depend on new chief executive Brian Kruger, the two had already formed a view on how he could continue to add value to the company.

    There are a couple of areas that I have already indicated to Brian that I can spend more time focusing on, and he can continue to up-skill himself in some of the new challenges he has,'' Little said.

    Probably in the M&A side of it and if you have got some surplus capacity, which I am happy to be regarded as, I am very happy to add some additional weight there. To a large extent the consultancy strategies and the consultancy focus points will be determined by Brian and how he is going. But there will be special projects stuff in the M&A area that I am pretty excited about.''

    Under Little, Toll has spent $1.04 billion buying eight forwarding companies in the past three years.

    It has also been pushing more into the mining sector, paying $115 million this year for Mitchell Corporation in Western Australia.

    But Toll has been battling to convince investors of the merits of its acquisition strategy, which has led to the share price under-performing in the past 12 months.

    Little said that a number of acquisitions were on the radar, especially in the US.

    Little's intention to stay on as a consultant when he steps down, and then return to the board as a non-executive director after a minimum of nine months, has been widely questioned by investors, commentators and corporate governance experts.

    Analysts have claimed also that Kruger needs to demonstrate his independence from Little because the current strategy had delivered mixed success in recent years.

    But Kruger, presently the company's chief financial officer, has publicly said he has no problem with the arrangement.

    Little has agreed also to continue to represent the company on its important Singapore Government Business board and will retain an office at Toll's Melbourne headquarters.

    He will also work to transfer his powerful commercial relationships.

    The commercial side of it I have been very close to and handing over those relationships will be a terribly important part of what we will be doing towards the end of this year and also into next year,'' Little said.

(source:http://www.cargonewsasia.com/category.aspx?id=7)