Glencore Xstrata Top Management Shakeup

Just two weeks ago, the $76 billion merger was completed that created London-traded Glencore Xstrata. Today, shareholders shook up the company's board of directors by booting chairman John Bond and another director.

The company has appointed the former CEO of BP PLC (NYSE: BP), Tony Hayward, as its interim chairman. Hayward is the senior independent director and deputy chairman of Glencore Xstrata.

Bond, who is 70 years old, had already said he would step down as chairman after a search for a new chairman had been completed. Shareholders did not want to wait that long apparently.

Shareholders rejected the original terms of the merger agreement between Glencore and Xstrata, which Bond had negotiated. They were especially unhappy with the generous retention packages being recommended for Xstrata executives. Bond's decision to step down came following that rejection.

A second director, Steve Robson, was also rejected by shareholders in a proxy vote, and he resigned before today's annual meeting.

Hayward presided over BP at the time of the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon, which claimed the lives of 11 workers and dumped millions of barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico. Hayward took a lot of heat for the seemingly cavalier manner in which he responded to the disaster, and he resigned under pressure in July 2010. He is currently the CEO of a small oil company with operations in Kurdistan.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Commodities & Metals, Corporate Governance, Management Change, Metals, Shareholder Issues Tagged: BP, featured