London - ArcelorMittal’s South African unit said Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita will step down on February 18 after almost six years as chief executive officer at the local operation of the world’s largest steelmaker.
The ArcelorMittal South Africa Ltd. board will begin a search to replace the chief executive and will “in due course” make an announcement on the transitional period, it said in a statement today.
Nyembezi-Heita, 53, became chief executive in March 2008.
The steelmaker on November 6 ended a three-year pricing dispute with raw material supplier Anglo American Plc’s Kumba Iron Ore Ltd.
Kumba will sell as much as 6.25 million metric tons of ore a year from its Sishen and Thabazimbi mines to the ArcelorMittal unit at the cost of production plus a 20 percent margin.
“Although challenging, over the last six years as a management team, we have achieved significant advances in a number of areas,” Nyembezi-Heita said in the statement.
“As the market turns, we can expect a marked improvement in our financial performance, aided in no small measure by the recent settlement with Kumba.”
ArcelorMittal South Africa dropped 1.3 percent to 41.10 rand by 1:34 p.m. in Johannesburg trading, valuing the Vanderbijlpark-based company at about $1.8 billion.
The FTSE/JSE Africa All Shares Index was 0.3 percent lower. - Bloomberg News