Seven men — for there are no women on Xstrata’s board — have exactly a fortnight to decide their response to Glencore’s new offer £23 billion for the mining giant.
These are the directors who are neither executive directors of Xstrata nor representatives of its 34% shareholder Glencore.
They are led by John Bond, 70, who will also become chairman of the merged company if it happens. He is a career banker who rose to chief executive and then chairman of HSBC and later chaired Vodafone.
David Rough, 61, is both deputy chairman and senior non-executive. As the former head of investment at Legal & General he is a key conduit to institutional investors.
His North American equivalent is Claude Lamoureux, 69, a former head of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
Industrial experience comes from Peter Holley, 65, former finance director of Smith & Nephew, and Ian Strachan, 68, former finance director of Rio Tinto and chief executive of BTR.
Con Fauconnier, 64, has headed several South African miners.
