oz boss less than a wizard, page-7

From WA Today:

Zinifex days

Perhaps surprisingly, in light of the dire position of OZ Minerals, chief executive Andrew Michelmore appears to be a man of few regrets.

Michelmore ran Zinifex for a short time before its merger with Oxiana, during which it splashed $900 million on a Tasmanian mine that has since been closed.

But Zinifex had enough other cash from selling its smelters that it would remain alive today, albeit with marginal cash flows. Oxiana, led by Owen Hegarty, brought the bulk of the debt into the OZ mix.

Yet Michelmore yesterday claimed the formation of OZ from the two "gave strength to the balance sheet" and "gave it a good position to weather out a lot of this storm".

That argument may not hold water with some angry former Zinifex investors who have seen all of their assets sold to China Minmetals. Michelmore was brought on board in late 2007 to replace long-time Zinifex boss Greig Gailey, who now heads the Business Council of Australia.

"When I left Zinifex it had money in the bank, it had a billion dollars coming in for the smelting sale, it was in good financial health," Gailey said at a lunch in Melbourne yesterday. "I can't comment on where it is today and why it is where it is. That is an issue for management at OZ."

There are suggestions Michelmore may head Minmetals' overseas operations rather than stay with the slimmed down OZ. Michelmore has prior experience working for tough foreign bosses, having worked for Wal King's favourite Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, before taking over from Gailey at Zinifex.