A report in the FT suggests Marius Kloppers is on the way out at BHP:
BHP Billiton has quietly started looking for a successor to Marius Kloppers, chief executive, in what could herald a further shake-up in the leadership of the global mining industry following a five-year period of stability.
The process, led by chairman Jac Nasser, is at a very preliminary stage and a succession at the top of the world’s biggest mining company by market capitalisation could take another 12 to 24 months, according to people familiar with the talks.
BHP declined to comment specifically on Mr Kloppers, but said that succession planning for the chief executive and senior management team was “an ongoing process and one of the most critical tasks of any board”.
…Industry executives said it should not come as a surprise that the miner’s board had started planning for Mr Kloppers’ eventual departure, pointing to the need to avoid a situation similar to that at Anglo American. While Ms Carroll has announced her departure the company has just started to look for a new chief executive.
“A board should discuss succession the moment they appoint the CEO,” an industry executive familiar with BHP said.
Others, however, questioned whether discontent among BHP’s shareholders after several setbacks including the failed attempt to take over PotashCorp and a collapse of a merger with Rio’s iron business had contributed to the board’s decision.
The company, however, highlighted that Mr Nasser praised Mr Kloppers for his performance only a few weeks ago, saying: “We are very fortunate to have Marius as the CEO of the company, and he has been there for five years, and they’ve been five very, very successful years for us.”
In my view, Kloppers sole achievement for shareholders was been the breaking of the iron ore contract pricing system, which ushered in the three year iron ore boom. But that also came at the expense of the company’s international reputation with foreign governments, which is why in my view, BHP was unable to secure PotashCorp because the company was seen to be a loose cannon in international relations, something Canada rightly did not want. Klopper’s ill-fated attempt to absorb Rio Tinto can be seen in the same mold.
The recent Petrohawk acquisition was another waste of money. As was BHP’s over-zealous investment program of the past few years which is now being wound back. We might credit Kloppers with the early move to consolidate this, but that kind of looks like it was the influence of Jack Nasser.
Overall, the Kloppers tenure at BHP is symbolic of Australia through the period, marked by fabulous good fortune, hubris and the wasted opportunity to build for the future.
