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The board of mining billionaire Andrew Forrest\u2019s green energy business Fortescue Futures Industries is now defunct, but former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is not expected to join the list of senior figures exiting the company.<\/p>\n
Fortescue has been rocked by a recent string of shock departures, including the head of its iron ore division Fiona Hick and the division\u2019s chief financial officer Christine Morris.<\/p>\n
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Malcolm Turnbull joined Fortescue Futures Industries in February 2021 as its chairman.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Andrew Meares<\/cite><\/p>\n Their departures were followed by the exit of former Reserve Bank of Australia deputy governor Guy Debelle from the board of Fortescue Futures Industries.<\/p>\n With Fortescue\u2019s main board the key forum for all corporate decision-making, Fortescue Futures Industries CEO Mark Hutchinson said the renewables business\u2019s board had become redundant.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the discussions we have now on the energy side are with the main board, which is the way it should be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hutchison said Turnbull would continue to play a key role at Fortescue as chair of the Green Hydrogen Organisation. The former politician, who served as prime minister from 2015 to 2018, came on board with Fortescue Futures Industries in February 2021 as its chairman.<\/p>\n \u201cHe plays a very important role on the Green Hydrogen Association, which we sponsor,\u201d Hutchinson said. Turnbull was approached for comment.<\/p>\n Hutchinson and Hick\u2019s replacement as the head of the iron ore division, Dino Otranto, have just finished the first leg of Fortescue\u2019s investment roadshow in Sydney and Melbourne.<\/p>\n The duo re-assured investors of the $60 billion group\u2019s stability after the departures, as well as changes that will see the mining and the energy businesses compete directly against each other for investment capital. Previously, any green investments were capped at 10 per cent of Fortescue\u2019s earnings.<\/p>\n \u201cThe metal side has not experienced the turnover that\u2019s been reported. In fact, we\u2019ve got really, really low turnover from the executive all the way down the organisation,\u201d Otranto said. <\/p>\n Chief executive of Fortescue\u2019s green energy business Mark Hutchinson and chief executive of its iron ore mining business Dino Otranto.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe company moved fast, right?\u201d Hutchinson said of the quick departures of Hicks and Morris. \u201cIt is what it is. It\u2019s healthy for the organisation because we get on [with it].\u201d<\/p>\n Analysts have expressed caution about the changes. UBS analyst Lachlan Shaw said that while the mining business is in strong hands with Otranto, this sudden change, combined with the mining business going head-to-head with energy for investment funds, \u201cmay raise leadership concerns for shareholders\u201d.<\/p>\n There is also the issue of the uncertain returns from the significant green energy investments Fortescue is about to make.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Forrest has ramped up his rhetoric on the looming catastrophe of global warming and said heavy industries like mining and energy are responsible for the deaths that will come from global warming, not consumers.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like the global public to hold people like me to account, we are the problem, industrial leaders, political leaders, you should demand that we step up, that we change how we produce the goods that everyone relies on,\u201d he told a conference in Nairobi this week.<\/p>\n And he made no apology for the abrupt changes at the company.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were good people, but we need constant alignment of interest,\u201d he told Bloomberg in Nairobi.<\/p>\n Fortescue is readying for a final investment decision on five energy projects including the Gibson Island project near Gladstone.<\/p>\n The company has also announced that it will pursue fresh investment ventures with US hydrogen company Plug Power with plans to evaluate co-investment in each other\u2019s North American green hydrogen production projects.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Plug withdrew from a joint venture with Fortescue to develop its hydrogen electrolyser factory on Gibson Island, due to concerns about the economics of the project.<\/p>\n The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day\u2019s trading.<\/i><\/b> Get it each weekday afternoon<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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