PPC CEO, Ketso Gordhan quits after clash with board, shares slump

By Tiisetso Motsoeneng

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The chief executive of South African cement maker PPC quit abruptly on Monday, with the company citing clashes between him and the board, sending its shares to their biggest daily fall in nearly six years.

Ketso Gordhan, who was appointed at the start of last year, leaves the company in the middle of an expansion drive into the rest of Africa that he had spearheaded to offset slowing demand at home.

PPC is building cement plants in Ethiopia, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe with the aim of achieving 40 percent its sales outside South Africa, where economic growth has been faltering. The company makes about 24 percent its 4.5 billion rand ($403 million) in annual revenue from the rest of Africa.

Gordhan, who last year took a 1 million rand pay cut, told Reuters in May that PPC's aggressive expansion plans might force it to scale back dividend payments.

Shares in PPC fell 7.7 percent to close at 30.60 rand, their biggest daily percentage decline since November 2008.

"PPC was getting a bit of traction with its Africa expansion plan. They are going to lose a lot of momentum from this," said Byron Lotter, an analyst at Johannesburg-based fund manager Vestact.

PPC said that Gordhan's departure was prompted by "differences of opinion" with the board, regarding "procedures for the approval of certain decisions." but that he had agreed to continue providing input to crucial projects he was leading.

"I am leaving with a heavy heart," Gordhan said in a statement released by the company.

Non-executive chairman Bheki Sibiya will become executive chairman until the appointment of the new CEO, the company said, adding that it has started the recruitment process.

(1 US dollar = 11.1645 South African rand)