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Mr Moyo

PPC Zimbabwe chairman Mr Todd Moyo will remain on the PPC Ltd board following the cancellation of the annual general meeting which sought to dissolve the board.

The entire PPC board had been set for dissolution at the AGM next week after investors representing about 10 percent of stock called for a vote after chief executive Mr Ketso Gordhan resigned in September following a dispute with his fellow directors.

But PPC Ltd and its investors agreed to replace some of the board members without holding a meeting to vote on whether to have a total clear-out.

Mr Moyo is a 5 percent shareholder in PPC Zimbabwe, a stake he co-owns with Stanford Moyo. Other directors – Mangalani Peter Malungani,

Sydney Mhlarhi, Tim Ross and Bridgette Modise – will remain on the board.

The reconstituted board will consist of 12 non-executive directors and will exclude any current or former permanent executive directors of in the last 10 years.

“The board has decided to embark on a process of reconstituting the board at the upcoming annual general meeting on Monday, 26 January 2015,” said PPC in a statement.

On the December 8 meeting, some PPC shareholders had resolved to replace directors with a functional board “with the correct expertise to run the company”.

But in an interview with Bloomberg last month, chairman Bheki Sibiya said: “We are confident that the shareholders are not going to be removing the board in its entirety.”

They will support “the growth that we have delivered into the African continent”.

While Mr Sibiya will lead the board during the transition phase, he intends to step down once “stability has been established”, with Zibu Kganyago acting as his alternative following the January 26 annual general meeting, according to the statement.

Mr Gordhan said he is vindicated by the decision to replace some of the board.

“In agreeing to change the board at the AGM in January and specifying the criteria and process for appointing six new members to the board of PPC, all parties have agreed that the company needs a stronger, more capable board,” he told Bloomberg.

Mr Gordhan will decide his future plans next year, he said.

“I expect that the new board and CEO will find my reasons to exit the CFO very compelling and act on it in the future,” he said.

PPC has shortlisted four candidates to succeed Mr Gordan, Mr Sibiya said.

The remaining six members of the reconstituted board will be elected at the January AGM, with Foord, Visio and Nedbank nominating Claudia Estelle Manning, Gesina Trix Coetzer, ex-AngloGold Ashanti Ltd chief executive Bobby Godsell, Peter Nelson, Itumeleng Dlamini and Keshan Pillay.

PPC is expanding in African countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Algeria, where demand for cement outstrips supply, and plans to have 40 percent of sales outside its home market by 2017.

The company said it has already secured $422 million for expansion projects in Zimbabwe, Rwanda, DRC and Ethiopia. – Business Reporter/Bloomberg.