Tuesday May 13, 12:14 PM
Anglo American names Neville Nicolau as CEO of Anglo Platinum UPDATE
(Adds broker comment)
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Anglo American Plc (LSE: AAL.L - news) . named Neville Nicolau as chief executive
of its 74.8 percent-owned subsidiary Anglo Platinum Ltd (Frankfurt: A0D965 - news) , effective June 1.
Nicolau has almost 30 years of gold mining experience, including eight years with AngloGold Ashanti Ltd (Brussels: ANG.BR - news) where he was chief operating officer until a board restructure last November (Frankfurt: A0S9N7 - news) . He joined Anglo American in March.
'We believe that the drawback is that he is an internal posting with nearly 30 years of Anglo (and subsidiaries) experience and thus being an 'Anglophile', it may be difficult to implement the culture change that we identify is surely needed,' said JP Morgan.
The broker said the key challenge for the new CEO is to change the structure of AngloPlats away from the company's centralised business model.
AngloPlats, the world's biggest platinum producer, has been without a CEO since Ralph Havenstein's departure last August. The post is thought to be one of the most challenging jobs in mining and the group's operations and projects have under-performed.
'If its chosen CEO fails to turn AngloPlats, we are concerned that there is potential that the market ascribes a high execution risk to all Anglo projects and assets and then it could well continue to underperform its peers too,' JP Morgan said.
The broker retains a 'wait and see' stance, but said it is disappointed that the opportunity for substantial change has not been grasped.
Anglo American chief executive Cynthia Carroll welcomed the appointment.
'I am confident that Neville's operational focus will enable Anglo Platinum to capitalise on its significant upside potential and extend its operational and financial excellence,' she said.
AngloPlat's joint acting CEOs Norman Mbazima and Duncan Wanblad have been appointed CEO of the company's steel products business, Scaw Metals, and CEO of Copper in the Base Metals division at Anglo American, respectively.
Mbazima will continue as chief financial officer of Anglo Platinum until the search for his successor is completed, at which point he will take up his new role at Scaw.
Wanblad will start his new job on July 1.
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