BHP appoints insider as CEO

BHP  (NYSE: BHP; LON: BHP) has appointed Mike Henry as its new CEO starting Jan. 1, 2020. Henry will replace CEO Andrew Mackenzie, who is retiring on Dec. 31.

Currently the president of operations minerals in Australia, Henry has been a member of BHP’s executive team since 2011, and joined the company in 2003.

“The appointment of an internal candidate suggests that BHP’s board is not looking for a major shakeup of the business,” Edward Sterck, a mining analyst at BMO Capital Markets, comments in a note to clients. “The biggest questions we think Mr. Henry will need to address are the future of thermal coal, whether to proceed with Jansen, and the potential collapse of the DLC.”

“On balance, we think he might consider exiting thermal coal given how unpopular it is becoming with investors, that Jansen is probably still going to go ahead (there are no obvious buyers for it), and that the DLC structure will remain unchanged,” Sterck says.

BHP’s board of directors will have to make a decision in early 2021 on whether to continue investing in building the Jansen potash mine near Humboldt, Saskatchewan and bringing the project into production.