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Kazakhmys top shareholder makes way for independent chairman

Top shareholder Vladimir Kim will make way for an independent chairman to lead the London-listed Kazakh copper miner within the next 12 months.

Posted: Friday , 11 May 2012

LONDON (Reuters) - 

Vladimir Kim, the top shareholder in Kazakhmys, said on Friday he would step down from his role as chairman within the next 12 months, making way for an independent replacement to lead the London-listed Kazakh copper miner.

Kim has been chairman since Kazakhmys, one of the world's largest copper producers, listed in London in October 2005, but has been with the company since 1995.

"I think that now is the right time to hand on the role to a new and independent chairman, which will bring the company fully into line with the UK Corporate Governance Code," Kim said in comments made at the company's annual shareholder meeting.

"I will remain as a non-executive director on the board and continue to be closely involved with the company. I currently have no intention to reduce my shareholding."

Kazakhmys, part-owned by Kim and the Kazakh government since Kim sold part of his stake in 2010, is one of several foreign-owned, London-listed miners to have come under scrutiny amid a debate over London's corporate governance rules and the protection of minority investors.

Corporate governance best practice would normally require company chairmen to be independent.

Kim is also one of Britain's richest men, coming in at number 32 in this year's Sunday Times Rich List, with a fortune valued at just over 2 billion pounds ($3.2 billion).

Shares in Kazakhmys were trading down 3.2 percent at 768.5 pence, marginally underperforming a 2.7 percent drop in the broader sector but largely unchanged by the news.

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