Commodities trader Trafigura shrinks leadership roles in reshuffle

London — Global commodities trader Trafigura has reshuffled some of its senior leadership positions, the company said on Tuesday, with the need to replace outgoing COO and board member Mike Wainwright leading to a wider revamp.

The moves are likely to give the company’s energy trading units more power at a senior level given poor performance in metals over the past couple of years, several sources familiar with the matter said.

Wainwright’s departure was announced in April after Trafigura’s metals division booked a $590m impairment in its October-March financial results due to alleged nickel fraud. He was one of the three most powerful executives at Trafigura, along with Jose Larocca and Jeremy Weir.

CEO and executive chair Weir will keep both of his roles while Ben Luckock has become the sole head of oil trading. Gonzalo de Olazaval will be the sole head of metals and bulk commodities while Richard Holtum will add renewables to his existing gas and power responsibilities, the company said.

Geneva-based Trafigura is a major industrial metals trader and the world’s second-biggest independent oil trader.

The management committee will be renamed the executive committee and led by Weir and executive director Larocca. The committee includes the three division heads and the three people taking over Wainwright’s responsibilities: CFO Christophe Salmon, Emma Stroud as new COO and Ignacio Moyano, who takes on the newly created role of chief risk officer.

Trafigura said four executives — Hadi Hallouche, Kostas Bintas, Julien Rolland and Jesus Fernandez — who were on the old management committee would not be in the new one.

Hallouche, who was one of the three co-heads of oil with Luckock and executive director Jose Larocca, will remain CEO of fuel arm Puma Energy. Kostas Bintas, who was co-head of metals and bulk, stays as head of aluminium and copper and Jesus Fernandez will remain head of mergers and acquisitions.

Julien Rolland will lead strategic projects including the Lobito rail corridor in Angola and a hydrogen project in Denmark.

Bintas and De Olazaval are currently involved in a lawsuit against Prateek Gupta, in which Trafigura alleges “systematic fraud” over nickel cargoes. Gupta denies the allegations.

Reuters