Commodities titan Glencore Xstrata PLC said Thursday it has
appointed Tony Hayward, the former BP PLC chief executive, with
immediate effect to become its next full-time chairman following a
year-long search to replace its previous chairman.
Glencore Xstrata has lacked a full-time chairman since last May,
when Mr. Hayward, 56, was appointed interim chairman of the newly
minted company. Previous chairman Sir John Bond was ousted
following trading house Glencore's $29.5 billion acquisition of
mining company Xstrata PLC the same month.
The appointment of a chairman has been closely watched by
minority shareholders keen on having a strong board to represent
their interests, given the high level of employee ownership at
Glencore Xstrata. Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg has a 8.3% stake,
according to the company's annual report, while he and other
Glencore employees together own over a third of the company's
shares.
Mr. Hayward's appointment completes a remarkable comeback for
the former BP boss. BP replaced Mr. Hayward in 2010 following the
Deepwater Horizon disaster and subsequent oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico, which cost the company billions of dollars in damages.
Mr. Hayward is also the Chief Executive of oil exploration
company Genel Energy PLC, which he co-founded with financier
Nathaniel Rothschild.
Write to Alex MacDonald at alex.macdonald@wsj.com
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