[miningmx.com] – WHEN Sir John Parker, Anglo American chairman,
described Mick Davis, Xstrata CEO, as an unaffordable replacement for CEO Cynthia
Carroll, it sounded like a witty sidestep to the question of succession.
In retrospect, it was an answer.
Mick Davis doesn’t fit the Anglo culture. Whereas Carroll made it one of her primary
missions to understand the South African government’s position on its mining
industry, Davis is said to be confounded by it, and sometimes exasperated.
And while there’s no place for sentiment in business, the effect of Davis’s all-but-
hostile “merger of equals’ proposal with Anglo American in 2008 represents a fair bit
of bad blood. In fact, Parker’s first job at Anglo was in repelling Davis.
Appointed in August 2009, Parker moved rapidly and decisively, appointing three
independent, non-executive directors within a month of each other (November to
December) and thus showing Anglo could defend itself against Xstrata.
Parker is unlikely to dither in replacing Carroll either. So the fact that Davis needs
until June before he becomes a free agent, even assuming shareholders approve the
$33bn merger between Xstrata and Glencore, suggests the timing is all wrong for
Davis at Anglo.
Davis looks as unlikely a candidate for Anglo’s top job as any of the internal
candidates suggested for the role, including Chris Griffith, the newly appointed CEO of
Anglo American Platinum (Amplats).
Ex-BHP Billiton CFO Alex Vaneslow certainly looks the part, but remember the
surprise when Philippe Mellier, an industrialist from Nancy, was appointed CEO of De
Beers? Rather, expect Parker to look laterally as he seeks qualities as well as direct
skills in sourcing a replacement for Carroll.
Davis has been fancied for the role because of his renowned ability to bring about the
kind of change in Anglo shareholders seem to want of a new CEO: swift corporate
action.
But that’s not entirely the decision of a CEO. As Parker said, the Board owns the
strategy, the CEO formulates it. Anglo’s future shape and destiny lies as much with
Parker as with a new CEO.
