Raviv Zoller will likely be appointed CEO of Israel Chemicals. Zoller is the preferred candidate of Israel Chemicals chairperson Johanan Locker, who headed the company’s selection committee, and who is expected to bring Zoller’s candidacy to the Israel Chemicals’ board of directors for approval.
Zoller will replace acting CEO Asher Grinbaum.
Early this month, Zoller announced his wish to resign as CEO of IDI Israel Direct Insurance Ltd. He is due to leave this company in August.
“After 10 years in the job, it is no surprise,” Zoller told “Globes,” adding, “It’s a very good and long-term at any company, and certainly at an insurance company.”
Zoller, who was appointed CEO at Direct Insurance in May 2008, was the longest-standing CEO at a major Israeli insurance company. From 2008 to 2016, his aggregate pay totaled NIS 56 million (an annual average of NIS 6.25 million), excluding his not-yet-announced salary for 2017 and what he will be paid for 2018, which will certainly amount to a substantial sum.
Grinbaum was appointed acting CEO in September 2016 when former CEO Stefan Borgas left his position. Together with Locker, Grinbaum led a comprehensive streamlining program at the company that included closing down money-losing activities, the sale of the company’s non-core business, and a halt in investments in a large-scale computer project.
Plunging prices for potash and phosphate, the two main raw materials mined and marketed by Israel Chemicals, have hit the company hard in recent years. Nevertheless, the company’s reports for 2017 (published today) showed a 1% rise to $5.4 billion in revenue, while its operating profit reached $629 million, compared with a $3 million loss in 2016.
Israel Chemicals’ adjusted operating profit grew 12% to $652 million, following recovery in potash prices and good performance in the company’s advanced additives and industrial products, combined with lower management and general expenses.
Israel Chemicals’ 2017 net profit was $364 million, compared with a $122 million loss in 2016.
Source: Globes
INEOS Styrolution, the global leader in styrenics, has today announced the official opening of a new world-scale ABS[1] facility located in Ningbo, China, together with its joint venture partner SINOPEC. The facility has an annual nameplate capacity of 600,000 tonnes.
The merger of Röhm’s Acrylic Products business unit and SABIC’s Functional Forms business has resulted in the formation of Polyvantis. This new company will offer extruded products in the forms film, sheet, pipe and rod for markets that include building and construction, transportation and aviation, electrical and electronics, automotive and home and garden.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc) is considering plans to acquire upstream oil and gas company Wintershall DEA, an affiliate of BASF SE, according to a Bloomberg report citing people with knowledge of the matter. A deal to acquire Wintershall DEA could be worth more than €10 billion, the report said. BASF and Adnoc declined to comment on the report.
