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Pressure mounts on Anglo's Carroll Posted: Thu, 05 Apr 2007 [miningmx.com] -- THE next nine months may be crucial for Canadian Cynthia Carroll, who is officially now the hands-on CEO at Anglo American. “I think she has to be fairly active to prove that she’s not just the caretaker manager,” said Peter Major, a hedge fund manager at Cadiz. There’s remnant chitchat in Johannesburg that Anglo may yet fall to a hostile takeover and much may depend on Carroll’s ability to impose her will and direction, the chitchatterers say. Broadly speaking, she needs to finish off predecessor Tony Trahar’s restructuring work and pare away any management layers that might prevent her excelling operationally. Simon Thompson, the Anglo executive believed to have been a candidate for Trahar’s job, announced his resignation effective from April 13. The commonsense view is that he quit rather than being pushed. But there may be some truth to a London Sunday Telegraph report on March 25 that Carroll may well take the axe to Anglo’s bureaucracy. Some Anglo shareholders would welcome that. “I’d like to see a cleaner structure, more control of cash flow and a more agile, leaner organisation,” said Henk Groenewald, a fund manager at Coronation Fund Managers. “Getting to know the business would be key,” said Matt Brenzel, a fund manager at African Harvest of Carroll’s job at hand. “But I think the listing of Mondi would be the number one priority on her list.” A more distant third on the “to do” list is to oversee the successful empowerment of Anglo Platinum, Anglo’s 75% subsidiary company. Major said a little less hostility could go a long way. “Barry Davison (former Anglo Platinum chairman) was fairly aggressive,” said Major. He believed Carroll could “change it down a gear”. By giving a little, Anglo Platinum could empower itself quicker. “She may get what she wants,” said Major of Carroll. “Remember, the South African government is also under pressure having to deal with foreign perceptions.” And were 2007 to be a stellar year for Carroll she could perhaps flex Anglo’s underused muscles by dabbling where Trahar was loathe to go: in the merger and acquisition industry. Click Here to subscribe to our daily newsletter
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