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Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of Glencore International.
Sergei Bobylev TASS via Getty Images
- Glencore’s outgoing CEO, Ivan Glasenberg, joined the company 36 years ago.
- Glasenberg will replace Gary Nagle, who is the current director of the miner’s coal division.
- Glencore’s share price had risen nearly 4% at the close of the market on Friday, following news of Glasenberg’s withdrawal.
Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg will retire from one of the world’s largest coal producers in the first half of 2021, after a 36-year stint at the mining company.
On Friday, Glencore announced that South African Glasenberg will be replaced by Gary Nagle, who is the current head of the miner’s coal division. Nagle will be relocating from Australia next year to Switzerland to join Glasenberg as part of his transition to the position.
Glencore Chairman Tony Hayward praised Glasenberg, who has been CEO since 2002 for his efforts to grow the mining company.
“What he has achieved is unique, his vision created two of the largest mining companies in the world: Glencore and Xstrata,” Hayward said in a statement.
Regarding Nagle’s appointment, Hayward said the board had been working with Glasenberg for the past two years on the company’s succession plan.
“The fact that each department has promoted from within the group is a credit to the work done to ensure there is a force in depth,” Hayward added.
He explained that Nagle had been on the board’s “radar” for several years.
“We are confident that he has the right skills and qualities to lead the Glencore of tomorrow,” Hayward said.
Glencore’s share price had risen nearly 4% at market close on Friday, following news of Glasenberg’s withdrawal. But it’s not coming off with a flawless record – the company had 16 deaths last year, mostly at its copper operations in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The group has also been the subject of a series of investigations in the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil and Switzerland on allegations of bribery and money laundering. He has also been named in a class action lawsuit in the US, which is one of the few.
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Wayne McCurrie, portfolio manager at FNB Wealth & Investments, described the allegations as “quite serious” and said that while the miner had done well under Glasenberg’s leadership, even as its competitors were struggling, the legal issues raised questions about the governance of the company.
For shareholder activist Theo Botha, appointing people within the company showed that he had good and sufficient planning. He also said Glasenberg deserved respect for not accepting any short-term bonuses during his time at Glencore and his large stake in the company showed that he had “the skin in the game.”
“He never had a severance pay, so he only received his base salary and his pension contribution. I think there must be some respect for that, especially if you look at other companies, like Woolworths, the CEO [Ian Moir] he resigns and the board suddenly capitulates and pays them for these huge golden handshakes, meanwhile he was useless, ”Botha said.
But he said the Glasenberg could have done more and reacted faster to the deaths at the Glencore mines.
