Xstrata Chief Executive Officer Mick Davis has agreed with Glencore to not take up the six month role of Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Glencore Xstrata following completion of the merger. Davis will step down from Xstrata upon completion of the merger, currently expected to be 2 May 2013, allowing Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg to assume the role of Chief Executive Officer of the Combined Group from the effective date.
Davis has agreed to act as consultant to the Combined Group until 30 June 2013 in order to support the integration process. In accordance to the terms of the Merger, Davis’s position on the Glencore Xstrata Board will be taken by a current Xstrata executive from the effective date.
A number of other Xstrata Executive Committee members have shown their intention to step down from their roles on the effective date. As previously announced, Xstrata’s Chief Financial Officer Trevor Reid has decided not to take up the position of Chief Financial Officer of Glencore Xstrata upon completion of the merger. Xstrata Copper Chief Executive Charlie Sartain, Xstrata Nickel Chief Executive Ian Pearce, and Loutjie Smit, Interim Chief Executive of Xstrata Alloys, will leave the company on the effective date. Executive General Manager, Strategy and Corporate Affairs Thras Moraitis, and Chief Legal Counsel Benny Levene will also step down on the effective date but, along with Trevor Reid, have agreed to act as consultants to the Combined Group for a period of up to six months following the effective date in order to support the integration of their respective functions.
Xstrata Chairman Sir John Bond said “The building of Xstrata over the past decade from modest origins to a FTSE 20 global diversified mining major has been one of the outstanding entrepreneurial achievements of our time. Based on a vision about the impending mining super cycle and the opportunities it created for a nimble new mining group, it was the exceptional leadership, drive and business acumen of Mick Davis and his team that turned this vision into reality. They built a business that embedded an entrepreneurial spirit within a committed but lean management team, combined with a clear sense of purpose and dedication to sustainability, to deliver value in its broadest sense to the many stakeholders in our business. As Xstrata transitions into the merged company with Glencore, Mick and his team can look back with pride on a decade of exceptional achievement. They leave Xstrata with the warmest appreciation of the Board for their outstanding accomplishments.”
Davis commented: “I look back on the past eleven years at Xstrata with enormous satisfaction. I have had the great pleasure and privilege of working with a talented and committed group of leaders. Together we were able to build a $50 billion global company from a $500 million minnow, delivering significant returns to our shareholders in the process. At the same time we created a unique culture that empowered individuals to perform and identify opportunities to create value, while making a positive and lasting contribution to the communities and countries in which we work.
“My executive team and I are pleased to hand over to the new Glencore Xstrata a company with a strong legacy for value creation and growth, a high quality portfolio of operations and growth options, supported by a very healthy balance sheet. As importantly, we are certain that each of our 84,000 employees and contractors will bring to the new merged entity the unique set of capabilities and values which have made Xstrata so successful and, in particular, an approach to sustainability which is looked to as the model for the industry. All those who travelled on the journey enjoy my most sincere respect and of course great appreciation. At Xstrata we have been proud not only of producing the vital building blocks of society, but also of the way we have gone about this quest – with a clear understanding of the need to do so in an entrepreneurial and sustainable manner that creates shared value for all stakeholders. I look to my colleagues to keep this legacy alive within the new Glencore Xstrata for many years to come. “
As referred to in the merger update announcement released by Glencore today, following receipt of approval in China and Glencore having now given effect to the commitments required by the European Commission, completion of the Merger is now only conditional upon completion of the Xstrata court process as further set out in the New Scheme Document in connection with the Merger published by Xstrata on 25 October 2012. The expected timetable in connection with the Merger is as set out in Glencore’s merger update announcement.