Mining's greatest shape shifters

Anglo American has had many watersheds over the past 100 years, but there is no doubt that chief among them was the moment Harry Oppenheimer son of the company’s founder, Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, and group chairperson since 1956, who officially retired in January 1983.

His relinquishing of the reins of control not only effectively brought to an end the Oppenheimer family’s 65-year-long dynastic domination of Anglo American, but also altered the very nature of the company from what had been a family-run business to a more generically corporate executive-led firm.

Under Oppenheimer leadership, it had grown from a small East Rand gold mining company into South Africa’s most successful conglomerate, whose shareholding and influence spanned across the entirety of the country’s economic, social and political spheres. At the time of Harry’s retirement, the company was worth $15 billion and the shares of the companies it directly controlled accounted for more than half of all shares traded on the JSE.

*This content was extracted from the Anglo American Centenary City Press supplement. Click here to download the full supplement.

Leadership of a powerful corporate force requires a man of stature, vision and innate responsibility. Not only to the company’s success but, given the sociopolitical context of the early 1980s, to South Africa’s long-term wellbeing.

Following the retirement of Harry Oppenheimer, the man chosen for the task was 56-year old Gavin Relly. Having started his career at Anglo American in 1949, Relly had been involved in some of the company’s, and indeed South Africa’s, most extraordinary expansionist endeavours, including the development of the Free State gold field, the establishment of a uranium industry, and the further growth of the steel and vanadium sector with the creation of Highveld Steel and Vanadium.

By 1977, Relly had risen the ranks to become deputy chairperson. Not only did his appointment make sense from an experience perspective, but Relly was widely regarded as highly pragmatic and fiercely opposed to international economic sanctions, two qualities that were believed necessary as the country moved ever deeper into crisis.

Relly’s leadership of Anglo American spanned the tumultuous period between January 1983 and April 1990. It was a time of increasingly stringent international economic sanctions, isolationism, the growth of trade unionism and industrial action, particularly in the mining sector, social unrest, severe state oppression and, towards the end, the glimmer of political reform.

Thus, it was inevitable that Relly’s role as chairperson was far more political than corporate in nature being concerned with helping to resolve the sociopolitical turmoil of the country, which he understood to be in the company’s best economic interests.

Admittedly, the company had always been far more concerned with South African politics than its peers: Sir Ernest and his son had both been members of Parliament and, particularly Harry, had advocated for the liberalisation of oppressive laws.

While Harry was certainly an outspoken opponent of the apartheid regime – although not always in an altruistic fashion – Relly took political activism to a whole new level and put Anglo American firmly at the forefront of businesses’ campaign for the economic liberalisation of South Africa during the late 1980s. In fact, Relly’s legacy is almost wholly political with the most significant achievement being the contribution he made to the demise of apartheid.

He pursued a two-pronged approach – an aggressive public affairs and scenario-planning strategy to encourage the liberalisation of the country’s political framework, and the engagement with the ANC in exile.

Throughout his chairmanship, he repeatedly spoke out against the apartheid regime and encouraged the creation of economic opportunities for the black majority.

*This content was extracted from the Anglo American Centenary City Press supplement. Click here to download the full supplement.

The appointment of Michael Spicer and Clem Sunter was a significant move. They were two executives who would have enormous influence on South Africa’s sociopolitical environment during the late 1980s and 1990s. In fact, the “high road, low road” scenario developed by Sunter fundamentally altered the public conversation from one where South Africa was inevitably heading for civil war to one where an inclusive and peaceful future could be negotiated.

Simultaneously, Relly began to engage in serious political dialogue with the ANC leadership in exile and with Nelson Mandela while he was still incarcerated in Pollsmoor Prison. The undertaking for which Relly became most renowned was his leadership of a delegation of South African businessmen, in defiance of the orders of the National Party, to meet with the exiled ANC leadership in Lusaka, Zambia, in 1985.

It was initiatives such as these that essentially signalled Anglo American’s commitment to the struggle for, at least, a new non-racial economic dispensation. Ever the pragmatist, Relly understood that the release of Mandela from prison on February 2 1990 had ushered in a new era for the country, and that the new challenges and opportunities could only be effectively embraced by a new chairperson. Thus, just weeks after Mandela’s release Relly resigned and announced that his deputy, Julian Ogilvie Thompson, would take over. In naming JOT, as he is familiarly known, as his successor, the company was firmly sticking to its inherent South African-British aristocratic-esque character.

*This content was extracted from the Anglo American Centenary City Press supplement. Click here to download the full supplement.

The appointment of Michael Spicer and Clem Sunter was a significant move. They were two executives who would have enormous influence on South Africa’s sociopolitical environment during the late 1980s and 1990s. In fact, the “high road, low road” scenario developed by Sunter fundamentally altered the public conversation from one where South Africa was inevitably heading for civil war to one where an inclusive and peaceful future could be negotiated.

Simultaneously, Relly began to engage in serious political dialogue with the ANC leadership in exile and with Nelson Mandela while he was still incarcerated in Pollsmoor Prison. The undertaking for which Relly became most renowned was his leadership of a delegation of South African businessmen, in defiance of the orders of the National Party, to meet with the exiled ANC leadership in Lusaka, Zambia, in 1985.

It was initiatives such as these that essentially signalled Anglo American’s commitment to the struggle for, at least, a new non-racial economic dispensation. Ever the pragmatist, Relly understood that the release of Mandela from prison on February 2 1990 had ushered in a new era for the country, and that the new challenges and opportunities could only be effectively embraced by a new chairperson. Thus, just weeks after Mandela’s release Relly resigned and announced that his deputy, Julian Ogilvie Thompson, would take over. In naming JOT, as he is familiarly known, as his successor, the company was firmly sticking to its inherent South African-British aristocratic-esque character.

*This content was extracted from the Anglo American Centenary City Press supplement. Click here to download the full supplement.

Julian Ogilvie Thompson or JOT, as he is familiarly known, was a Rhodes scholar and an Oxford politics, philosophy and economics graduate.

He joined the company in 1957 as Harry’s personal assistant, was moulded in the Oppenheimer business style, and climbed the executive ranks to become chair of the corporation’s international arm, Minorco, in 1982. He became deputy chair of the company in 1983, and chair of De Beers in 1985. JOT was an Anglo-De Beers man to his core.

As was the case with Relly, the period of JOT’s chairmanship of Anglo American, which spanned from April 1990 to November 2002, was a roller coaster of unprecedented social, political and economic developments in South Africa. He led the corporation through a period of intense social tension, political negotiation and reform during the early 1990s, and then reconciliation and the facilitation of a more inclusive economic framework in the latter half of the decade.

He did more than just steer the company through an unprecedented peaceful revolution; JOT guided Anglo American through momentous corporate changes, not least of which included one of the first and biggest empowerment deals – the sale of Anglo American’s stake in Johnnic to the National Empowerment Consortium in 1996 – the merging with Minorco, and the international listing on the London Stock Exchange. In fact, it was under his leadership that Anglo American underwent the most significant and irrevocable corporate transformation of its history. The merger with its offshore investment arm, Minorco, in 1998 catapulted the company from a proudly South African mining group to an international industrial powerhouse that was not only valued at £13 billion, but now a member of the elite FTSE 100 Index. Given the far more global character of the company and a desire to attract international investors, it was decided to switch the company’s primary listing and head office to London in 1999.

In line with its new identity as a London- listed PLC, Anglo American decided, at the turn of the millennium, to embark on a restructuring strategy to essentially strip itself down to its primary mining assets. Once a complex industrial and financial group that spanned across more than half the country’s economy, it had decided it would move into the new millennium as a solely mining-focused company, the activity believed to be its core business.

*This content was extracted from the Anglo American Centenary City Press supplement. Click here to download the full supplement.

In May 2000, Tony Trahar was appointed chief executive officer of the international conglomerate. Interestingly, the merger with Minorco had compelled a structural change at executive level, with the chairperson’s management responsibilities being split out into a new chief executive position. Trahar would be the first to occupy that new role, while JOT continued as chairperson for another two years.

An accountant by training, Trahar was, like his predecessors, an Anglo American career man having joined the corporation in 1974. He had risen up the ranks to head up Mondi, the corporation’s paper and packaging division, before his final promotion to the top job.

The restructuring campaign of the early 2000s was unsparing in its approach and culminated in the shedding of about $9 billion worth of noncore assets, including Anglo American’s steel, paper and agriculture aluminium businesses. More significantly, its relationship with diamonds and gold, the two resources on which Anglo American had been built and grown, was significantly altered during this period with the cutting of its stake in AngloGold Ashanti from 51% to 41%, and the elimination of the crossholding share structure between Anglo American and its long-time sister company, De Beers.

The restructuring was still under way when Trahar announced his early retirement in 2006.

*This content was extracted from the Anglo American Centenary City Press supplement. Click here to download the full supplement.

Sir Mark Moody - Stuart chaired Anglo American from 2002 to 2009 and played a significant role in leading the demerger of Mondi from Anglo American. To build on this, it was decided that an entirely new kind of leader would be required.

*This content was extracted from the Anglo American Centenary City Press supplement. Click here to download the full supplement.

The appointment of Cynthia Carroll as chief executive in 2007 certainly broke the leader mould. Not only was she a woman and not a South African, she was the first external candidate appointed and the first lead executive to actually have mining-related qualifications. In an industry that barely allowed women to work underground a few decades ago, Carroll’s appointment shattered the glass ceiling of international mining.

Carroll’s tenure as chief executive coincided with the global financial crisis in 2008 and the volatile market swings that followed. With Chinese demand for many mined products also showing growth, she led the company to expand its presence in iron ore through an ambitious new mine in Brazil, as well as investing in new capacity in Chilean copper and Brazilian nickel. Carroll continued the restructuring that had preceded her, finally taking Anglo American out of the gold business.

Carroll, whose tenure ended in 2012, had a fundamentally positive effect through her dedication to the improvement of health and safety standards, and her commitment to dialogue with all stakeholders.

*This content was extracted from the Anglo American Centenary City Press supplement. Click here to download the full supplement.

In 2011, during the tenure of Cynthia Carroll as chief executive, chairman Sir John Parker negotiated the buyout of the Oppenheimers’ 40% shareholding in De Beers, taking Anglo American’s interest to 85%.

*This content was extracted from the Anglo American Centenary City Press supplement. Click here to download the full supplement.

When Mark Cutifani, the Australian mining engineer who had headed up AngloGold Ashanti, took over the reins in early 2013, it was remarkably different from the company that had been bequeathed by Harry Oppenheimer.

It was no longer South Africa’s corporate powerhouse whose strategy was dictated by a handful of executives and shareholders, and whose influence spanned the country’s sociopolitical and economic landscape. It was now a global mining company owned by international investors whose focus was on mining large, high quality orebodies across a select number of metals and minerals.

Although continuing volatile economic conditions have led to a further reduction in the number of mining operations owned by the company, Cutifani has grown the group’s production through improving productivity. He has also focused the portfolio on its most competitive assets in South Africa and around the world, thereby establishing the solid foundation from which the company can move into the future.

*This content was extracted from the Anglo American Centenary City Press supplement. Click here to download the full supplement.