Anglo American chief Carroll steps down

ANGLO AMERICAN’S chief executive, Cynthia Carroll, has quit after more than five years in the job, under pressure from investors over the mining group’s lagging share price and continued dependence on strike-hit South Africa.

A geologist by training, New Jersey-born Ms Carroll ruffled feathers when she moved from the aluminium industry to become the first non-South African, the first woman and the first outsider to take the top job at Anglo in 2007.

Rejecting suggestions Ms Carroll was pushed out, chairman John Parker, her long-standing supporter, said there had been “differences of opinion” with shareholders but the decision to step down was Ms Carroll’s own, as she approached her seventh year in a “very gruelling and demanding role”.

“Institutional pressure has been building for some time to replace Cynthia, so the news will be welcomed,” one of Anglo’s 15 largest shareholders said.

“Ultimately, running Anglo is one of the toughest jobs around and, although Cynthia made a good start as chief executive, the feeling is the company has gone backwards in the last few years.”

Ms Carroll’s efforts to streamline a mining group with colonial roots that became a sprawling conglomerate, her campaign to cut billions in costs and efforts to shift Anglo’s centre of gravity away from South Africa have won her support among investors.

A campaign to improve ties with South Africa’s government has also won praise.

But Ms Carroll’s relationship with investors became troubled after big-ticket acquisitions such as the Minas Rio iron ore project in Brazil – an early bid to diversify Anglo’s portfolio, which suffered cost overruns and delays.

“Her strategic moves didn’t always hit the mark. The acquisition of Minas Rio, promptly followed by a dividend cut, was a particular low point,” another of Anglo’s 15 top investors said. Anglo scrapped its 2008 dividend to preserve cash.

Crippling strikes in platinum and iron ore mines in South Africa in recent weeks have revived long-standing worries over Anglo’s exposure to the country, aggravating concerns about a share price that has underperformed its peers.– (Reuters)