Glencore Xstrata officials, on the heels of the largest mining company merger of its kind, announced Chairman Sir John Bond has been voted off the board and replaced by former BP CEO Tony Hayward.
Along with Bond, shareholders refused to endorse the re-election of three other former Xstrata non-executive directors, in a move increasingly bolstering Glencore’s domination of the newly minted mining giant after its board’s annual general meeting in Switzerland.
Bond, a former chairman of Vodafone and HSBC, had announced his resignation in Q4 2012 once a replacement had been named at the new entity, worth more than $70 billion. Hayward, Glencore Xstrata’s senior independent director, was appointed chairman on an interim basis.
Hayward experienced withering criticism during his BP tenure, which lasted from 2007 until 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, claiming more than a dozen lives and spreading oil pollution across the Gulf of Mexico. BP remains under fire for the incident, despite a large-scale cleanup effort.
Bond had been tapped over Glencore Chairman Simon Murray, but announced his resignation after Xstrata’s shareholders vetoed a contentious $213 million retention package for senior executives.
