SABMiller decision worries UK adviser

A BRITISH adviser to institutional investors with more than £1.5-trillion in assets says that shareholders in Rio Tinto Group and SABMiller should be concerned about sharing a chairman from next year.

SABMiller, which is the world’s second-biggest brewer, announced this week that Jan du Plessis would be replacing John Manser as chairman next July.

Du Plessis, 60, who has been chairman of London-based Rio since 2009, would become an independent nonexecutive director at SABMiller on September 1, said the maker of Grolsch and Peroni beers.

“Rio is an enormous diversified global resources company, and our view would be chairing a company like Rio would be very close to being a full-time job, if it is to be done effectively,” said Andrew Whiley, a spokesman for Pensions & Investment Research Consultants.

“Are SABMiller really saying that out of all of the talented men and women that could chair their company that this is the best candidate available?”

SABMiller, which has the largest exposure to fast-growing emerging markets of the major brewers, originally started selling beer to gold prospectors in South Africa in 1895, before moving its primary listing to London in 1999 and expanding through a series of acquisitions in markets, including Australia and Colombia.

Du Plessis has degrees in commerce and law from the University of Stellenbosch, and is a chartered accountant.

“Joining the board of SABMiller is simply one of the most natural decisions I could ever hope to make,” Du Plessis said in a statement from Rio Tinto, the world’s second- biggest mining company.

The SABMiller position did not “in any way diminish my strong commitment” to Rio Tinto, he said.

Du Plessis said that he planned to serve as chairman of the iron-ore producer for several more years, provided that was in line with the wishes of board and investors.

He would, however, step down as a director of London-based retailer Marks & Spencer in the first half of next year.

Richard Farnsworth, a spokesman for the Londonbased brewer, said that Du Plessis would be spending “as much time as is necessary to fulfil his duties as chairman of SABMiller”.

Whiley said: “Shareholders of both Rio and SABMiller should be concerned.

Shareholders of both Rio and SABMiller should be concerned

“Is the chair of their company able to allocate sufficient time and attention required to chair two large organisations?”

Du Plessis’s previous roles include being finance director of Cie Financiere Richemont, maker of Cartier jewellery and Montblanc pens, and chairman of British American Tobacco.

Manser said that Du Plessis “has not only an excellent record as a chairman of major international groups with developing markets footprints, but also a wealth of experience and a deep understanding of international consumer businesses”.

Manser was appointed chairman temporarily in December after the death of former SABMiller CEO and chairman Graham Mackay. — Bloomberg