SABMiller appoints Rio Tinto’s Du Plessis as chairman designate

The South Africa born Jan du Plessis, 60, is set to become chairman of two big global companies at the same time when he takes over the role at brewer SABMiller next year in addition to his current position at miner Rio Tinto.

The Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto, with a market value of USD 104 billion, is the world’s second-largest mining company behind Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton at USD 173 billion (estimates: statista).

Mr Du Plessis will succeed John Manser as chairman, following SABMiller’s annual shareholder meeting in July 2015, the brewer announced in August 2014.

The appointment of Mr du Plessis sends out several signals to investors: Rio Tinto is a global company and Mr du Plessis has spent the past five years travelling the world talking to major institutions and governments. Also, he has got plenty of experience in emerging markets, which is where SABMiller does a significant amount of business. Besides, Mr du Plessis in not a miner by background. He has been involved in retail and tobacco, so beer is not really a big surprise.

All of the above make him, in the terminology of the City of London, an excellent ornamental chairman – one who is good at maintaining connections with politicians, the big fund managers, large investors – as opposed to an executive chairman, who usually takes a hands-on role in the company’s day-to-day management.

Nevertheless, what will get the rumour mill spinning is the fact that on Mr du Plessis’s watch Rio Tinto successfully fought off a takeover attempt by its larger rival BHP Billiton. Although mining industry insiders say that Mr du Plessis came into the equation too late to have an impact on the BHP situation, the message will not be lost on the AB-InBev-SABMiller gossip mongers.

To mining industry pundits, in any case, Mr du Plessis’s appointment perhaps suggests that SABMiller expects to see off its predator, or that Mr du Plessis is already being groomed to be the chairman of the combined group.

All in all, Mr du Plessis may well be SABMiller’s man for all seasons, but this does not do away with the criticism that one man should never be chairman of two big FTSE 100 companies. In fact, it’s quite rare these days for one person to lead two major boards at the same time. The Wall Street Journal knows of only two: John Peace is chairman of both the luxury-goods maker Burberry Group and of the bank Standard Chartered, while BP’s chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, also chairs Swedish truck maker Volvo.

Still, there are no rules that put a cap on the number of board memberships an individual can hold. The UK Corporate Governance Code only states that a full time executive director should not take on more than one non-executive directorship or chairmanship in a FTSE 100 company.

Looks like Mr du Plessis will have to do a bit of multitasking as he was quoted as saying that the SABMiller appointment “does not in any way diminish my strong commitment to Rio Tinto. He has assured the board of Rio Tinto that he would like to serve as chairman for several more years.