MUMBAI | Jan 05, 2016: Natural resources conglomerate Vedanta Resources is hiring Lafarge's industrial strategy head Samir Cairae to head its metal business, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. He will report to Chief Executive Tom Albanese.
Cairae's mandate is to improve Vedanta's operational performance, restructure its operations and cut cost. At Lafarge, he was responsible for industrial strategy and performance of the building material company's 127 plants spread across 47 countries with 30,000 employees. He will also help Vedanta bring in new technology and improve plant safety.
Vedanta didn't respond until press time Monday to an email seeking comment. Currently, each metal vertical of the group has a CEO who reports to Albanese directly. Under the new structure, they will report to Cairae, according to source.
Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta, with operations spread across India, Africa and Australia, has presence in aluminium, zinc, iron ore, copper and power. It also has an oil and gas exploration unit, Cairn India.
The UK-headquartered conglomerate is going through a rough patch due to the meltdown in commodity prices and aims to cut $1.3 billion (Rs 8,640 crore) in costs over the next four years by harnessing group synergies. Cost cuts have become increasingly important to maintain profitability in a low commodity price environment.
Vedanta has the record of hiring global talent. It hired former Rio Tinto CEO Albanese in 2013 and former Anglo American CEO Cynthia Carroll as an adviser last year.
Cairae, a management graduate from IIT-Kanpur, joined the world's largest cement maker in 1999 and rose to the ranks to head Lafarge's global cement industrial strategy and performance. At Lafarge, his key responsibilities included cost reduction and manufacturing innovation.
He was also directly in-charge of industrial competency centers in Montreal, Lyon, Vienna, Cairo, Beijing and Kuala Lumpur, comprising 330 experts and professionals.
Before joining Lafarge, he worked as business head of Schlumberger India. Vedanta has undertaken a massive restructuring exercise with a goal to simplify group's complex structure.
The company is in the process of merging cash-rich subsidiary Cairn India with it. However, it has run into road blocks with shareholders over valuations of both companies.
The deal, if successful, will help debt-laden Vedanta access Cairn India's cash reserves. Vedanta Ltd's shares listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange have lost almost half their value in the past six months to Rs 88.90. During the same period, Cairn India shares fell about 25% to Rs 138.45.
(Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/)