Anglo American's New Chairman Has a History of Leading Takeovers

(Bloomberg) -- The century-old mining giant Anglo American Plc named Stuart Chambers as its new chairman less than a year after he steered U.K. chipmaker ARM Holdings Plc through a $32 billion takeover.

Chambers, a former chairman at ARM and Rexam Plc, will join Anglo's board in September and take over the post in November, the company said in a statement Wednesday. The 61-year-old is replacing John Parker, who said he was standing down earlier this year.

The new chairman will join as Anglo seeks to build on a recovery following a raw-materials downturn that hurt most of the mining industry. The company's shares slumped to a record low in London in early 2016 on concerns about its debt position. Chief Executive Officer Mark Cutifani announced a plan to radically shrink the company through asset sales, but reversed the strategy this year after recovering commodity prices revived profits.

Anglo rose 1.4 percent to 1,059.50 pence by 9:20 a.m. in London.

SoftBank Group Corp. bought Cambridge, England-based chip designer ARM last year in its biggest ever deal. Rexam, a packaging and tincan maker, was bought by U.S. company Ball Corp. for 4.4 billion pounds ($5.7 billion) in 2016.

Takeover Background

"The one noteworthy fact of his appointment is that both companies he previously chaired ended up getting sold," said Ben Davis, an analyst at Liberum Capital Ltd. in London.

Anglo American is the world's biggest diamond and platinum miner and operates copper, coal and iron ore mines from South America to Australia.

“Anglo American has emerged from the commodity price downturn more resilient and with a renewed sense of purpose, both strategically and in terms of the role it plays in society,” Chambers said in the statement.

Chambers will have to deal with Anil Agarwal, who secured a stake of about 11 percent in the miner this year, making the Indian billionaire one of its biggest investors. Agarwal has said the acquisition was in his personal capacity and he doesn't plan to be an activist investor.

Chambers' appointment comes at time of transition for some of the world's biggest mining companies. BHP Billiton Ltd., the largest, is preparing to select a replacement for Chairman Jacques Nasser as early as next week, with the choice focused on three internal candidates, people with knowledge of the process said on Wednesday. Rio Tinto Plc is also looking for a new chairman after Jan du Plessis said he planned to step down to take the same role at BT Group Plc.

Chambers has previously been CEO of Nippon Sheet Glass and Pilkington Plc. He has also served as a non-executive officer on the boards of Tesco Plc and Smiths Group Plc and is a member of the U.K. Takeover Panel.

Parker was Anglo chairman for eight years and oversaw the transition from previous CEO Cynthia Carroll to Cutifani in 2013. Under Carroll, the company made a disastrous foray into Brazilian iron ore, spending $14 billion to buy and build the Minas-Rio mine. It impaired the value of the project by more than $4 billion.

To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Biesheuvel in London at tbiesheuvel@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net, Tony Barrett, Jesse Riseborough