Mr. Kloppers, 50, will be succeeded by Andrew Mackenzie, the head of BHP’s nonferrous division, on May 10. Mr. Mackenzie, 56, was one of the first people Mr. Kloppers hired when he became chief executive in 2007.
The announcement came as BHP, the world’s largest mining company, reported a 58 percent drop in profit for the six months that ended Dec. 31 compared with the period a year earlier, partly because of lower commodity prices.
Mr. Kloppers is the latest chief executive to leave a big mining company over the last five months. The chief executives of Rio Tinto and Anglo American also stepped down.
Mr. Kloppers said in a statement that the decision to retire was difficult, but that after almost 20 years with BHP Billiton, it was “the right time to pass the leadership baton.”
“I am very proud of the achievements of our company and our people,” he said.
Mr. Mackenzie, who grew up in an industrial town near Glasgow in Scotland, said he planned to continue focusing “on our strategy of owning and safely operating large, low-cost, long-life assets diversified by commodity, geography and market.”
Mr. Kloppers’s departure was widely expected among investors. He came under increasing pressure after some failed acquisition plans, including one to buy Rio Tinto. Last year, Mr. Kloppers gave up his bonus after BHP had to reduce the value of some of its assets, including shale-gas holdings in the United States.
“Despite an exceptionally difficult economic environment during his tenure, Marius and his team have delivered for shareholders, significantly outperforming our peers in terms of total shareholder returns,” BHP’s chairman, Jac Nasser, said in the statement.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/business/bhp-billiton-chief-will-step-down.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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