Mining giant BHP yesterday named the former chief of Australian packaging giant Amcor Ltd as its new chairman as it grapples with pressure from a US hedge fund to restructure its business.
Ken MacKenzie, who joined the Anglo-Australian firm as a non-executive director last year, is to take over the chairmanship in September.
Current chairman Jac Nasser delayed his departure from the world’s largest miner to take charge of the response to the 2015 Brazil mine collapse in which 19 people died.
He announced he was stepping down in October last year.
“Ken MacKenzie brings extensive global executive experience and a strategic approach,” senior independent director Shriti Vadera said in a statement.
“He has a proven track record of delivering value for shareholders. He has the operational and financial capabilities as well as the rigor necessary to effectively oversee BHP’s capital allocation framework,” Vadera added.
Shares in BHP edged down 0.17 percent to A$22.96 yesterday in early Sydney trade.
The global hunt for a new chairman saw the miner evaluate internal and external candidates, and came as it dropped the name Billiton in a rebranding exercise.
BHP has also been facing a push by a major shareholder, New York-based Elliott Advisors, for a restructure that involves dissolving its costly dual-listing, with assets transferred to a new firm incorporated and listed in Britain.
Elliott welcomed MacKenzie’s appointment in a statement, adding that it was a “constructive step in bringing much-needed change to the direction of BHP.”
The investor also called on the incoming chair to “address BHP’s poor capital allocation and underperformance, nominate diverse and qualified directors and review the executive management team.”
BHP in April had rejected the proposal, while Canberra has warned that removing the firm from the Australian Stock Exchange was not in the national interest.
Canadian-born Australian MacKenzie, 53, was the managing director and chief executive of Amcor from 2005 to 2015, and has a 23-year career with the packaging company.
“He’s a fresh set of eyes to look over the company,” Fat Prophets resources analyst David Lennox said. “I don’t think he’ll change that much... We believe the company has moved itself into a very good position to benefit from rising commodity prices in the sectors that it’s in.”
BHP in February reported a rebound in profits for the last six months of last year after plunging into the red the previous year.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
AVIATION: Despite production issues in the US, the Taoyuan-based airline expects to receive 24 passenger planes on schedule, while one freight plane is delayed The ongoing strike at Boeing Co has had only a minor impact on China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), although the delivery of a new cargo jet might be postponed, CAL chairman Hsieh Su-chien (謝世謙) said on Saturday. The 24 Boeing 787-9 passenger aircraft on order would be delivered on schedule from next year to 2028, while one 777F freight aircraft would be delayed, Hsieh told reporters at a company event. Boeing, which announced a decision on Friday to cut 17,000 jobs — about one-tenth of its workforce — is facing a strike by 33,000 US west coast workers that has halted production
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
RSS