Gareth Penny

Gareth Penny
Born	(1962-12-24) December 24, 1962
Alma mater	Diocesan College, Oxford University
Occupation	Chairman

Gareth Penny is non-Executive Chairman of Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium and one of the leading producers of platinum and copper. MMC Norilsk Nickel, the largest diversified mining and metals company in Russia, is listed on the Moscow Exchange.^[1] From 2012 to 2016, Penny was the CEO of New World Resources, where he was responsible for the oversight of NWR’s subsidiary OKD (Ostravsko-karvinske Doly), a Czech coal mining company. In May 2016 he was unable to negotiate sufficient state support from the government of the Czech Republic, which resulted in government takeover of OKD and Penny’s subsequent resignation. Penny also works for Julius Baer, a Swiss private wealth management company.

Education and personal life

Educated at Diocesan College in Cape Town and at Eton College, Gareth was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, graduating with a Masters in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Gareth is married to Kate and they have two children.

Career

Gareth is non-Executive Chairman of the Edcon Group, the largest non-food retailer in South Africa, with a clothing and footwear market share of nearly twice that of its nearest competitor.^[2]

Gareth is a non-Executive Director and RemCo Chairman of Julius Bär Holding Limited, Switzerland's leading, dedicated wealth manager. He also serves on the Senior Advisory Board of TowerBrook Capital Partners (TCP), a successful New York and London based investment firm.^[3]

Gareth is non-Executive Chairman of Pangolin Diamonds, an exciting diamond exploration company in Botswana, one of the world’s leading diamond producing countries. Pangolin is listed on the Canadian Exchange.^[4]

Gareth has been a regular visiting Lecturer at the London Business School’s MBA and Sloane programmes.

Gareth has worked in various forms of mining over the past three decades, and for 22 years he was with De Beers and Anglo American plc, the last five of which he was Group CEO of De Beers.^[5] During his tenure, Gareth was instrumental in reshaping not only the world’s largest diamond company, but also the diamond industry. He was the prime architect in the change to the De Beers business model, which replaced over 100 years of supply-side management in the rough diamond business, with demand-driven initiatives that have generated significant value creation for the company and the diamond industry.

Gareth was voted Person of the Year in 2003, by the authoritative jewellery industry magazine JCK (Jewelers Circular Keystone), and holds Honorary Life Membership of the London Diamond Bourse and Club. On numerous occasions he has been included in the publication “South Africa’s Leading Business Managers”.^[6]

For four years between 2012 and May 2016, Gareth Penny was executive chairman of New World Resources (NWR), one of Europe’s largest hard coal producers.^[7]

Penny was responsible for the management of Ostravsko-karvinské doly (OKD), a subsidiary of NWR, the largest coal mining company in the Czech Republic and a key player in the steel and energy sectors of Central Europe.

In his role, Penny had to handle financial difficulties being faced by NWR and OKD in early 2016. On 28 April 2016, Penny stated to the media that OKD has funds until mid-May and that failure to reach a deal with the state in the next few weeks would result in the company filing for bankruptcy.^[8]

The Czech minister of finance at the time, Andrej Babis, stated that the government had no plans to take over OKD. Negotiations ensued but Penny was unsuccessful in his efforts to close a deal with the Czech government. On 3 May 2016, Penny publicly announced OKD’s insolvency.^[9]

Less than three weeks later, on 20 May 2016, Penny announced his resignation and stood down as executive chairman of NWR.^[10] It was reported by various media that Penny had earned over CZK 48 million throughout his time as CEO of NWR. ^{[11] [12]} Three other members of the board have resigned shortly after him. After Penny´s resignation, the coal prices have experienced a quick rise. ^[13] OKD was then bought again by the Czech government through a state-owned company Prisko a.s. ^[14]

Since 2013, Gareth Penny is also the independent director of Nornickel ^[15], a Russian nickel and palladium producing company owned by Russian oligarchs Vladimir Potatin, Oleg Deripaska, and Roman Abramovich, all closely associated with Vladimir Putin.^{[16] [17]}

References