A turbulent year of staff changes, cost hikes and disrupted strategies at explosives and fertiliser giant, Incitec Pivot, has ended with former BHP mining executive, Mauro Neves de Moraes, appointed to the top job.
His $1.25 million a year managing director's role commences next month, taking over from where Jeanne Johns left off after suddenly quitting the job in June.
Her departure, and then the loss of fertiliser business chief executive designate, Christine Corbett, just weeks later, contributed to what has been a succession of setbacks reported to shareholders in 2023, eroding the company's share price about 30pc per cent, down to about $2.80 this week.
Ms Johns, who had been with Incitec since 2017, was part-way through a planned demerger of the fertiliser and Dyno Nobel explosives business, and was finalising the $2.5 billion sale of the relatively new Waggaman ammonia plant in Louisiana in the US, when she departed.
The US plant has endured a run of lost production days and repair costs exceeding $100m in recent years, while its fertiliser and ammonia operations at Prospect Hill in Queensland have also been disrupted, most recently by restrictions to sulphuric acid and gas supplies.
Early this month the Waggaman sale to CF Industries was approved by regulatory authorities and completed leaving the door open for Incitec to reward shareholders with a pro-rata share distribution worth up to $500m and a similar valued share buyback.
Incitec Pivot has also changed its fertiliser plans, now prioritising the sale of the century-old fertiliser division, rather than floating it as an independent entity on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Negotiations are continuing with an unnamed interested party, widely believed to be Indonesian government giant, Pupuk Kalimantan Timur.
Annual meeting
News of Mr Neves' appointment comes just days before Incited Pivot's Melbourne annual general meeting, which will vote on the buyback of up to 20 per cent of its share capital and the capital distribution to shareholders in the wake of the US asset sale.
Recently appointed board chairman, Greg Robinson, said Mr Neves, who had six years in leadership roles at BHP's Escondida copper mine in Chile and its Queensland coal division, had global expertise and deep knowledge of the strategic and operational issues facing mining companies.
The former Brazilian had earlier worked with Queensland-based rail freight giant, Aurizon, and Brazil's mining kingpin, Vale, and gained engineering, science, business and logistics qualifications at universities in Rio de Janeiro.
"Mauro's mining, logistics and commercial experience is strongly aligned to our strategy as a global leader in explosives technology and services for the resources sector, and a leading supplier of fertilisers for eastern Australian agricultural sector," he said.
The board ran an extensive global search process and was confident its choice for the top job would bring a strong focus on performance and on creating long term value for shareholders.
Mr Neves looked forward to joining IPL and bringing his passion for continuous improvement, high performance and customer focus to the company.
Incentive bonuses
He will be eligible for short term incentive remuneration payments worth up to 120pc of his base $1.25m annual salary and superannuation package and additional long term incentives worth up to 200pc.
Interim chief executive officer for the past six months Paul Victor, will resume his role as IPL's chief financial officer
Meanwhile, former Incitec Pivot managing director for the eight years prior to Ms Johns' appointment, James Fazzino, has become chairman of Rabobank Australia's board.
A board director since March 2020, he will succeed New Zealander, Sir Henry van der Heyden, who will retire his directorship in March.
Mr Fazzino's extensive career in senior agribusiness executive roles also extends to being a director of energy infrastructure group, APA Group, and chairman of Manufacturing Australia.
Prior to its $1.7b takeover by Canadian salmon farming giant, Cooke in 2021 he was chairman of Tassal Limited.
Andrew Marshall
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
