Trafigura, one of the world’s biggest commodity traders, is preparing to announce the appointment of Richard Holtum as its next chief executive as soon as next week, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Holtum, 39, a former British military officer, has enjoyed a rapid rise at Trafigura since he joined from Glencore in 2014. He currently runs Trafigura’s gas, power and renewables division.
Holtum will succeed Jeremy Weir, 60, who has served as chief executive for 10 years during a period of rapid growth for the company. Weir, who is currently also executive chair, will become chair, one person added.
A spokesperson for Trafigura declined to comment.
Under Weir Trafigura has grown its traditional oil and metals businesses, while expanding into gas and power trading, carbon markets and emerging areas such as hydrogen. Last year it traded the equivalent of the combined oil demand of the UK, France and Germany — an average of 5.5mn barrels a day. Profits have soared from $1.1bn in 2014 to a record $7.4bn last year.
At the same time Weir has had to manage a series of crises, including several probes into Trafigura’s past conduct. In March the company pleaded guilty to charges by US prosecutors of bribery in Brazil between 2003 and 2014 and agreed to pay $127mn in fines and forfeited profits.
The company and its former chief operating officer Mike Wainwright, who helped Weir run the business until last year, will go on trial in Switzerland in December over alleged bribery in Angola between 2009 and 2011. Trafigura has said Wainwright rejects the charges against him.
Weir’s tenure also included one of the biggest scandals in the metals sector, in which Trafigura lost about $600mn due to alleged fraud by its trading partner Prateek Gupta. Trafigura has brought charges against Gupta, who has denied the allegations.
The company has seen a string of changes in its top ranks recently, including the retirement of chief financial officer Christophe Salmon in June.
Weir told the Financial Times in April that the next Trafigura boss would not necessarily be the company’s most successful trader and would have to be able to engage with governments and present the company to the world.
“You have to learn how to operate within that sort of system,” he said.
Prior to joining Trafigura, Holtum served for five years in the British army after completing officer training at the Sandhurst royal military academy. He then spent two years trading oil at rival Glencore before joining Trafigura’s liquefied natural gas team in 2014.
Jean-Francois Lambert, a former commodities banker and longtime consultant to the sector, said the move signalled the company was in “transition mode”.
“The old guard is gradually stepping down,” he said. “Which makes sense, because the dynamics of the business have changed.”
