It still does not entirely explain why Grimshaw walked away from millions in options - other than for the kudos of becoming a pawn broker.

EZCorp has failed to enlighten the market on how much its new executive chairman will be paid.

At least Grimshaw won't be short of money as he moves his worldly goods across the globe to Austin, Texas.

He will still get base pay for the next two months from BoQ while he assists the bank with "transition arrangements." Not a bad deal given he will not actually be in the office to physically assist with the transition and CBD is not sure how good the mobile reception is in Texas.

He will be pretty busy with decision making at EZCorp.

When Grimshaw's predecessor William C Love was appointed chairman in May this year, his first act was to terminate a multi-million dollar services agreement with financial advisory firm Madison Park.

The company is owned by the Aussie investor Phillip Cohen, who just happens to hold all 2.97 million voting shares in EZCorp.

The company said its decision to terminate the advisory services arrangement with Madison Park was reached after the "management and the board" concluded "the Madison Park services are no longer needed".

Within two months, Cohen flushed out these independently minded board members and started again with a new team including Grimshaw.

Good thing our former Kiwi Olympian likes a challenge.

Hockey role needs filling

Speaking of which, the wheels are in motion to replace Grimshaw as president of Hockey Australia. The search is for a replacement who will not face such a tricky commute to HA's Melbourne HQ.

Timchenko embargo

Just how close did banned Russian oligarch Gennady Timchenko come to owning a large slice of Australia's petrol supply?

Billionaire Timchenko was on Monday named among 113 people and 32 entities (including a distillery) the Australian government slapped with sanctions over Russia's "persistent and deliberate violation of Ukraine's sovereignty" and the shooting-down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

It's illegal for Australians to do business with those on the sanctions list without a permit and they are also barred from travelling Down Under. Timchenko is the founder of Gunvor, which in January was reportedly among bidders for the Australian assets of Royal Dutch Shell, including a refinery in Geelong, import terminals and 900-odd service stations.

Commodities trader Gunvor, which is of course based in tax haven Switzerland, owns oil refineries and terminals across Europe, so it would have been a pretty good fit.

In the end, however, rival oil trader Vitol - which as far as CBD can tell isn't on the new sanctions list - won the auction, paying $2.9 billion.

Gunvor also isn't on the sanctions list. Seeing which way the wind was blowing, Timchenko reportedly sold his stake in the company in March.

Gutnick bids farewell

Diamond Joe Gutnick's adventures with gold explorer Blackham Resources has come to an end with the combative board stating that a recent share selldown was Gutnick exiting the register.

"Blackham understands the shares have been acquired by BBY Ltd and will be allocated to parties known to the company and who share in the vision and strategy of the current board," said a statement from the directors.

Nothing too snarky then.

To think that it was only a few months ago that Gutnick was its chairman and largest shareholder.

The board had tried to turf Gutnick in July, claiming he was "making an opportunistic attempt to gain control of the board and company without paying an appropriate control premium to shareholders" and accusing him of failing to cough up $6 million in agreed funding.

Gutnick reciprocated by trying to turf the rest of the board.

Amid the deluge of reporting season a rapprochement of sorts had been reached between the parties after the Takeovers Panel refused to get involved in the dust-up. Gutnick quit the board last week after both parties agreed to tear up his funding agreement with Blackham.

Further attempts at civility were made in the address.

"Blackham thanks Mr Gutnick for his contribution to and support of the company over the last 18 months and welcomes to its share register shareholders committed to its strategy and future vision."

A few more true believers might be needed judging by the voting on the resolutions at Tuesday's shareholder meeting.

Roughly one-third of the shares voted at the meeting went against the resolutions dealing with the issue of shares and options. The board wouldn't want such a strong negative vote when it comes to the remuneration report at its next AGM.

Punches cashes in

The account reclamation engineers at Collection House are widening their investor reach with another share sale by foundation investor - and deputy chairman - Dennis Punches.

The American, who served as chairman when the debt collector listed in 2000, is no longer a substantial shareholder after trousering $15 million from his latest share sale on Friday. Diversification is not a bad idea given Punches is nearing the 80 mark, but there are no current plans to step down from the board.

Punches was re-elected for another term just last year.

Got a tip? ckruger@fairfaxmedia.com.au