How Treasury Wine Estates fought off private equity bids

Chief executive Clarke explains his strategy and why he plans to stick with the winemaker. Two weeks after Michael Clarke landed the job of chief executive of Treasury Wine Estates, he received a phone call telling him that KKR, the private equity group, had proposed a takeover offer for the winemaker. “My wife and I were putting down an offer on a house when the chairman called,” says Mr Clarke, who had only recently travelled from the UK to Australia to take the job.