Willy Strothotte, Ex-Glencore CEO Who Ousted Marc Rich, Dies at 82

(Bloomberg) — Willy Strothotte, who played a key role in the history of commodity trading by leading the deal that created Glencore Plc, has died. He was 82.

Strothotte, who ran Glencore from 1993 to 2001 after spearheading the buyout of industry godfather Marc Rich from the company he had founded, was known for his ability to charm business partners around the world, including hitting it off with one Russian aluminum kingpin on a bear-hunting trip in Siberia.

In a statement, Glencore said: “It is with sadness that we note the passing of Willy Strothotte. In his role as CEO and then Chairman of Glencore, he had a transformative impact on the business. We extend our sincere condolences to his family and loved ones.”

Born in 1944, Strothotte started from the bottom rung of the trading industry, as an apprentice at German firm Frank & Schulte. He joined Marc Rich + Co in 1978, at a time when the company was riding high on the profits from the oil crises. In the 1980s, he ran the group’s affiliate in New York when Rich was a fugitive from US justice.

But it was his role in Rich’s exit from the company he had founded that made Strothotte a crucial figure in the history of the commodity trading industry. By the early 1990s, Rich had become increasingly erratic, plunging the trading house into a disastrous attempt to corner the zinc market. In 1993, Strothotte — who had left the company the previous summer after clashing with Rich — led a group of disaffected traders persuading Rich to step down and hand them control.

It was the greatest deal of his career. Strothotte became chief executive and a top shareholder of the company that was renamed Glencore. Affable and statesmanlike, he played an ambassadorial role at the top of what was the world’s leading commodity trading house. He spoke half a dozen languages flawlessly, reputedly switching his accent in English depending on whether he was conducting business in London or New York.

Strothotte championed a strategic shift at Glencore from being a pure merchant to becoming an owner of producing assets like mines and smelters, and selected as his successor the main proponent of that philosophy, Ivan Glasenberg. While Strothotte downplayed the suggestion that Glencore would go public, saying in 2001 that it would restrict its “entrepreneurial freedom,” it was this shift that set Glencore on a path that ultimately led to its IPO in 2011.

When Glasenberg become CEO in 2002, Strothotte remained as chairman both of Glencore and its sister company Xstrata. He stepped down in 2011 ahead of Glencore’s IPO, but his time at the trading house nonetheless made him a wealthy man: Swiss magazine Bilanz last year ranked him as the 130th-richest man in the country, with a net worth estimated at 1.8 billion francs ($2.3 billion).

“Willy was a very special unselfish man who came out of retirement to steer the company through a difficult period. He created a presence in any room he entered and was respected and admired by all who met him,” Glasenberg told Bloomberg. “He was an extremely loyal person and a great friend who made working in the company an extremely enjoyable place for all its employees. We will all miss him tremendously.”

–With assistance from Thomas Biesheuvel.

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