BHP vote looms

BHP Billiton's board is reported to be voting on the successor to outgoing chairman Don Argus as soon as this week. Mr Argus, 71, is widely expected to announce his retirement at BHP's annual meeting in November. Rumours are swirling through Melbourne business circles that the shortlist has been whittled down to two home-grown candidates -- Jacques "Jac" Nasser and John Schubert. Mr Nasser, 61, is the Lebanese-born, Melbourne-raised former chief executive of Ford Motor, where he earned the nickname "Jac the Knife", thanks to his penchant for cost-cutting. Mr Schubert, 65, who was born in Adelaide but educated in Melbourne, is the chairman of Commonwealth Bank. Whichever way the board's secret ballot is cast, the new BHP chairman will have big shoes to fill. Mr Argus -- former chief executive of National Australia Bank and one of Australia's most influential corporate figures -- has served as BHP's chairman since 1999. In that time, the outspoken patriot has doggedly pursued his vision of creating an Australian global mining champion through the merger of BHP and Rio Tinto. Right up until BHP went public with its hostile bid for Rio in November 2007, many analysts openly scoffed at the suggestion that the world's largest and third-largest miners would ever contemplate joining forces. The takeover offer foundered a year later on the rocks of the global credit crisis and the European competition body's concerns about the deal. But the year-long battle ultimately led the former rivals to sign up to a massive iron ore joint venture in Western Australia's Pilbara -- a move that some believe will pave the way for further deals, or even a revived merger, between the two. Along with bedding down the iron ore tie-up, the new BHP chairman will have plenty of other challenges on his hands as he tries to navigate the resources behemoth through the global financial crisis. Although commodity markets are surging forward again after their sharpest-ever fall in the second half last year, the jury is out on whether the buying spree reflects a true recovery in demand or just stockpiling for the future at a time of low prices. Iron ore is another thorny issue, with the traditional pricing system showing signs of crumbling as tensions between customers and suppliers intensify during the economic downturn. No matter whether it's Jac or John who chairs the Big Australian, their decisions will ripple beyond the company to affect the mining sector, the nation and the world. source:www.news.com.au