No-nonsense new Anglo chairman brings fresh look

By Eric Onstad

LONDON (Reuters) - John Parker brings a hard-headed shipbuilding background, gracious style and merger expertise to the chairman's post of mining group Anglo American (AAL.L), under siege by predator Xstrata (XTA.L).

Parker, 67, who has sat on 12 boards of listed companies and chaired eight of them, will take the top job at Anglo on August 1.

Born in Northern Ireland into a farming family, Parker has a reputation as genial with a no-nonsense core.

"Beneath the velvet manners, it's hard to escape the impression that Parker is really made of shipbuilder's steel," said a 2007 article in World Business magazine.

"Smooth and unhurried, he has the kind of presence that is build on decades of success."

Parker is well suited to help chart Anglo's future after it solidly rebuffed a proposal by Xstrata two weeks ago for a "merger of equals."

Known to relish challenges, Parker helped navigate a clutch of companies through mergers, including the British shipbuilding sector through nationalisation and then back to the private sector.

He is currently chairman of British energy network provider National Grid Plc (NG.L), assuming the post when Lattice, a spin-off of British Gas, merged with National Grid in 2002.

As chairman of Peninsula & Oriental Steam Navigation Co (P&O), Parker helped engineer its sale to Dubai ports operator DP World for $6.8 billion (4.2 billion pounds) in 2006.

BELIEVES IN STRONG CHAIRMEN

Parker, who still speaks with a soft Irish brogue, believes chairmen should offer decisive direction without treading on the toes of the day-to-day managers.

"The best chairmen I've ever had when I was a CEO were strong, who knew what they wanted to do in their boardrooms," he said in a 2007 interview with a management journal.

Parker could well take a hard look at Anglo American's cost-saving programme that is due to deliver $2 billion in cuts by 2011.

Companies must whip themselves into shape so they won't be vulnerable by attack from predators, such as aggressive venture capital (VC) groups, he said in the World Business interview.

"If somebody tells me they're worried about being attacked by a VC, I tell them to do what a sensible VC would do and cut the fat out themselves - quickly."