Fletcher appoints Spaniard Irazusta to lead light building products unit

Fletcher Building, the country's biggest listed company, has appointed a former senior executive at CRH, a Dublin-based building materials group,,to lead its light building products unit from early next year.

Francisco Irazusta, originally from Spain, will join Fletcher in early 2015 to lead the newly formed division, under a restructure at the end of October that simplifed Fletcher Building into two divisions: light and heavy building.

Francisco was most recently at CRH's European building products unit. The construction company also announced the appointments of former Rank Group manager Nicole Sumich as general manager of Iplex in Australia, ex-Boral executive Darren Schulz as general manager roof tile group, and ex-Sealord sales manager David Welsh as general manager coated steel systems, it said.

"These appointments represent a significant upgrade of the company's management talent," chief executive Mark Adamson said in a statement. "We have a cadre of individuals joining the company who have international experience and proven track records driving earnings growth in a range of businesses under tough conditions."

Fletcher rejigged its operational structure in October, forming two new divisions - heavy building products and light building products - and bundled in a number of other units into its New Zealand distribution division.

The company said David Surveyor resigned as general manager of Laminex Australia, who today was separately appointed chief executive of New Zealand meat processor Alliance Group.

Shares of Fletcher rose 0.8 percent to $8.47, and had dipped 1.3 percent this year.