Chairman, interim CEO appointed at Horsehead
Horsehead Holding LLC, the Robinson zinc producer that emerged from bankruptcy in September, said Tuesday it has appointed former BHP-Billiton executive Wayne Isaacs chairman and interim CEO.
The company also said it has hired Heidrick & Struggles, an executive search firm, to help it find a permanent CEO and hopes to complete that process by mid-year.
Michael J. Griffin, who worked at Reynolds Metals, Alcoa and other metals producers, has been named chief operating officer, the company said.
Mr. Isaacs, 61, replaces former CEO James Hensler, who Horsehead said left to pursue other opportunities.
Mr. Hensler is one of three executives of Horsehead who were sued by shareholders over statements they made about prospects at the company’s new zinc plant in Mooresboro, N.C., which replaced the company’s smelter in Monaca. The shareholders said the executives made false and misleading statements about the extent of problems at the plant, and failed to disclose cash and revenue shortfalls.
The other executives named as defendants are former CFO Robert Scherich and senior vice president Gregory Belland. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Delaware.
Horsehead filed for bankruptcy protection in February, facing a cash shortage and massive cost overruns at the Mooresboro plant. The plant cost more than $550 million and never reached anywhere near capacity after it went into production in June 2014. It was idled last January.
After the bankruptcy filing, a struggle for control of the company ensued between an investment group that proposed the reorganization plan and a shareholder group that alleged the investment group was trying to seize control of Horsehead at a discount.
The investor group, which wanted to make Horsehead a privately owned company, won. A U.S. bankruptcy court judge in Delaware approved its reorganization plan Sept. 9. The plan eliminated most of the company’s debt and converted $205 million in senior secured debt into stock in the reorganized company.