“BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company, named copper unit head Andrew Mackenzie as chief executive officer to succeed Marius Kloppers, who failed to deliver on about $200 billion of potential takeovers.
Mackenzie, 56, will take over on May 10, the Melbourne- based company said today in a statement when reporting a 58 percent decline in first-half profit. Under Kloppers, who became CEO in 2007, the aborted or rejected deals included hostile bids for Rio Tinto Group and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc.
Kloppers, 50, is the third head of a global mining company to step down since October as producers struggle with project writedowns, escalating costs and the aftermath of failed deals. The appointment of Mackenzie, a former 22-year veteran of BP Plc who speaks five languages and joined BHP from Rio Tinto Group in 2007, won’t change BHP’s strategy, Chairman Jac Nasser said today at a media conference in Sydney.
“Mackenzie is pretty well regarded, quite an experienced executive, but perhaps he’s going to be a little bit more focused on running the operations and expecting the best out of the operations, not that Marius wasn’t previously,” said Paul Xiradis, chief executive officer at fund manager Ausbil Dexia Ltd., which holds BHP stock. “That’s going to be the focus rather than expanding so it’s a new era.”
BHP slipped 2.2 percent to 2,188 pence by 9:15 a.m. in London. The shares fell 0.9 percent to A$38.65 at the close of trading in Sydney, trimming the gain for the past six months to 17 percent. Rio Tinto lost 1.6 percent in Sydney today and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. declined 5 percent.
