In anticipation of shareholder approval of the sale of assets to Minmetals, OZ Minerals has reviewed its Board and Management structures. As a smaller company with a less diverse portfolio, OZ Minerals will not require a Board of eight members and its management structure will also need to be leaner. Board The Board has decided that the optimal size for the Board of OZ Minerals following completion of the Transaction is six, comprising five independent, Non-Executive Directors plus the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Anthony Larkin has submitted his resignation with effect from 4 May 2009, and the Board does not intend to fill the vacancy created by his resignation. In addition, Mr. Ronnie Beevor, who retires from the Board in accordance with the Company’s Constitution at the next Annual General Meeting on June 11, 2009 will not seek re-election and the Board has decided not to replace Mr. Beevor. On the assumption that the proposed sale of assets to Minmetals is completed as expected, Mr. Andrew Michelmore, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, will resign from OZ Minerals and take up a senior executive role with Minmetals. A search and selection process for a Managing Director to replace Andrew Michelmore has been initiated in anticipation of the Minmetals sale process being completed As well as reducing the number of Directors, the Board has also decided that it is appropriate to refresh the Board and, to that end, Mr. Barry Cusack, Chairman of the Board, and Mr. Peter Mansell also plan to resign from the Board once a new Managing Director has been appointed and the Company has successfully completed the transition to its new form. The exact date of their resignations is therefore not yet certain, but it is intended to be prior to OZ Minerals’ 2010 Annual General Meeting. New Directors will be appointed to replace Mr. Cusack and Mr. Mansell possibly before they leave the Board, and those new Directors will be presented for election at the first General Meeting of shareholders following their appointment. Following completion of all these steps, five of the current eight member Board – Mr. Beevor, Mr. Cusack, Mr. Larkin, Mr. Mansell and Mr. Michelmore – will have left the Board and will have been replaced by two new Non-Executive Directors plus the new Managing Director.
OZL Price at posting:
78.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held