Seven familiar names shortlisted to head Anglo

Well-known executives headhunted from major mining companies such as BHP Billiton (NYSE, ASX:BHP), AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU), Barrick Gold (NYSE, TSX:ABX) and Xstrata (LON:XTA) have made the cut to become Anglo American’s (LON:AAL) new CEO, reports The Australian (subs. required).

Last month Anglo’s board nudged Carroll to leave the company after more than five years at the helm, which saw a drop in profits and a series of operational problems.

Since then, the London-base company has been searching for a replacement. The short-listed contenders include Alex Vanselow, a former chief financial officer at BHP, Mark Cutifani, the CEO of AngloGold Ashanti, Aaron Regent, the former Barrick Gold CEO, and Chris Griffiths, who heads up Anglo’s platinum business Amplats.

Last week several reports pointed to Xstrata CEO Mick Davis as the most probably new CEO of Anglo.

Davis, who, for over a decade built Xstrata from a company with 2,500 employees to a mining powerhouse with 70,000 workers in 20 countries, cut his teeth in the industry working as a coal trader in Johannesburg during the 1980s and could fit in well with the Anglo culture. Carroll, 55, was the first non-South African to head up the 100-year old company.

BHP Billiton, the world’s largest miner, is also looking to replace its CEO and this week announced that it may recruit outside the mining industry in an effort to find a suitable candidate to replace Marius Kloppers, another South African, in a couple of years’ time.

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