Anglo American announced on October 22, 2009, that it is restructuring its corporate organization into seven commodity business units. Management teams located in the area of core geographic focus for each business unit will be responsible for operational performance and project delivery.
The business units and their CEOs are:
- Platinum (South Africa): Neville Nicolau
- Copper (Chile): John MacKenzie;
- Nickel (Brazil): Walter De Simoni;
- Metallurgical Coal (Australia): Seamus French;
- Thermal Coal (South Africa): Norman Mbazima;
- Kumba Iron Ore (South Africa): Chris Griffith; and
- Iron Ore Brazil (Brazil): Stephan Weber.
Five group directors, based in London, will be responsible for corporate functions, as well as providing strategic support to the business units and ensuring the ongoing realization of group-wide synergies. They are:
- René Médori, group finance director (who continues as a member of the board);
- Brian Beamish, group director mining and technology;
- David Weston, group director business performance and projects;
- Mervyn Walker, group director HR and communications; and
- Peter Whitcutt, group director strategy and business development.
The business unit CEOs and group directors will report to Anglo American’s CEO, Cynthia Carroll, and together with her will form Anglo American’s executive committee.
The announcement also stated that, “As a result of the reorganization, a layer of global management is being removed. This will create a more effective, simple and efficient organization, with greater clarity over decision making and greater speed of implementation. The delayering and other efficiency measures are expected to result in a reduction of overhead staff of approximately 25%, with associated cost savings anticipated at $120 million per year.”
The announcement also said Anglo American will continue its recent strategy of divesting certain non-core assets, with Scaw Metals, Copebrás, Catalão and the Group’s portfolio of zinc assets now targeted for divestment.
