Carroll swats Anglo Pt chair criticism

David McKay & Marc Hasenfuss | Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:55

[miningmx.com] -- CYNTHIA Carroll, Anglo American CEO, has defended her appointment as chairperson of the group's 80%-owned listed subsidiary, Anglo Platinum, claiming it fell within the recommendations prescribed by corporate governance bible, King III.

Carroll said in an interview on Monday afternoon that the appointment of Anglo Platinum deputy chairman Valli Moosa would satisfy corporate goverate concerns. She also said her appointment helped align Anglo Platinum with its parent.

Moosa replaces Tom Wixley who has been deputy chairman for the past nine years but who will stay on as an independent non-executive director and chairman of the remuneration committee.

Moosa is a former chairman of Eskom and, before that, a former cabinet minister in charge of environmental affairs and tourism However, the appointment was subject to stinging criticism from Theo Botha, South African corporate watchdog who described it as unacceptable and a slap in the face for minority shareholders in Anglo Platinum.

"The appointment is not acceptable. You can’t have the CEO of the parent company serving as the chairman of a listed subsidiary. Carroll is going to have to recuse herself on every decision," said Botha.

Botha also believed Carrol’s appointment was blow for minority rights. "How will an independent director go against the chair. This compromises everybody…the chairman is there to be impartial," he said.

Both said that in terms of the King 3 recommendations on corporate governance some of the critical the roles of the chairman are to manage conflict of interest and act as link between board and CEO. "How can this happen? Surely as a CEO of Anglo American she will be laying down the rules to the CEO of Anglo Platinum?"

Carroll's chairmanship of Anglo Platinum is effect from September 1 2010 when current chairman Fred Phaswana steps down. Phaswana resigned from the Anglo American board in January to become the chairman of Standard Bank and, at that time, also indicated his intention of resigning from Anglo Platinum.

Best knowledge

Asked why Carroll had been appointed rather than any number of other candidates, Carroll said she had significant knowledge of Anglo Platinum and the broad national context in which it operated.

"It goes without saying that I have significant knowledge of Anglo Platinum and I understand the broader issues that we all face. I also have an absolute commitment to South Africa." Carroll added that her strong relationship with the South African government would also enable her to add huge value to Anglo Platinum's board.

Miningmx reported last week that the market was growing nervous of Anglo Platinum's inability to finally nail down mineral right conversions for all its operations.

Nicolau said that following the completion of Anglo Platinum's empowerment deal with Anooraq Resources, the company had only been waiting 11 months. "There is an administrative process underway," he said. "We all know this takes time."

South Africa's mineral resources department said in February that it was committed to reducing the wait list for companies applying for mineral rights conversions to six months from a year.

Looking forward, Carroll said that she would help Anglo Platinum's board continue its operational improvements in terms of safety and cost control. "We have demonstrated a substantial turnaround but we're not there yet," she said. "I also want to make sure Anglo Platinum has the right strategy to deliver to shareholders," she added.