Anglo American role for Woicke

Anglo American role for Woicke

By Rebecca Bream and Paul Sullivan, Financial Times

June 16 2005

Peter Woicke, former head of the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank's private sector lending arm, has an appointment in his diary for January when he will join the board at Anglo American as a non-executive director.

"His wide international experience of capital markets, developing countries and sustainability issues will be of great value to us," said Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, chairman of the mining company.

At the IFC, which he left at the end of January, the German-born banker was seen as a moderniser who was keen to make the organisation more flexible and less bureaucratic.

A former banker at JP Morgan, he drew on his experience in the more cut-throat world of investment banking to trim some of the organisation's fat and became the first IFC chief to make significant job cuts.

The number of Anglo American's board members currently stands at its full quota of 16 but will shrink to 15 at the end of the year when its finance director retires, allowing the newcomer to come on board.

Mr Woicke, who is also a supervisory board member of Austrian-based Raiffeisen International Holding and Frankfurt-based ProCredit Holding, is now building up his portfolio.

Anglo American is part of the Big Three group of companies that dominate the international mining industry, along with BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, although it has recently fallen behind its two rivals in terms of market value.

It has a significant exposure to South Africa, where it mines gold, diamonds, platinum and iron ore, and the strength of the South African rand has hurt Anglo's profit over the last two years.

The rand is now showing signs of weakening, however.

Its mix of businesses ranges from diamonds to paper and packaging.