Petra appoints mining and boardroom veteran Peter Hill as next chairman

Petra Diamonds announced the appointment of Peter Hill CBE as a non-executive director and chairman-designate with effect from 1 January on Tuesday, and as non-executive chairman on 31 March, in succession to founder and chairman Adonis Pouroulis.

The London-listed firm said Hill, a mining engineer, was currently non-executive chairman of the world's largest geotechnical contractor Keller Group, and of leading Europe and Australasia building products company Volution Group, overseeing its initial public offering in 2014.

He was non-executive chairman of the multimedia graphics processor company Imagination Technologies during 2017, and from 2012 to late 2015 was the non-executive chairman of the international specialty chemicals company Alent.

From 2002 to late 2011 Hill was chief executive officer of Laird, a global electronics and technology group employing more than 10,000 people worldwide.

Petra said he had “extensive” board experience as a non-executive director of Essentra from 2013 through 2017, Cookson Group from 2010 to its demerger in 2012, Meggit from 2004 to 2010, and Oxford Instruments from 1999 to 2004.

From 2005 to 2008 he was a non-executive board member of UK Trade and Investment, now the Department for International Trade, and from 2013 to 2018 a non-executive director on the board of the Royal Air Force, chaired by the UK Secretary of State for Defence.

Petra said Hill started his career in the gold division of Anglo American Corporation, holding underground supervisory positions at Free State Geduld Mines in South Africa before moving to Rossing Uranium, then part of Rio Tinto, in Namibia, where he held mine planning and open pit supervisory positions.

He moved to London as the mining engineer with the-then BP Minerals, before joining Consolidated Gold Fields, initially as minerals economist, then as group executive operations, before becoming group executive corporate finance assisting the chief financial officer during the-then hostile take-over bid by Minorco.

Hill was an executive director on the board of the international engineering and construction company Costain Group, and was president and CEO of Costain Coal in the United States.

He subsequently held senior management positions with BTR and Invensys, and had been directly involved in four UK public limited company takeovers, a FTSE 100 merger, a FTSE 250 demerger and an initial public offering.

Petra said Hill holds a BSc in mining engineering, and an MBA from the London Business School.

He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Materials, Minerals and Mining, and holds a South Africa Mine Manager's Certificate of Competency.

“We are delighted that Peter will be joining Petra Diamonds,” said non-executive chairman Adonis Pouroulis.

“He brings an impressive track record of chairmanships and board memberships across a range of global companies, industries and organisations, built on his earlier career in the mining industry including in Southern Africa, in underground and open pit operations, in planning and in project evaluation and development, in mining finance and as a CEO.

“I am personally delighted that someone of Peter's calibre and experience will be succeeding me as chairman, and I wish him well.”

Peter Hill himself said he was “honoured and privileged” to be appointed chairman-designate of Petra Diamonds.

“I look forward greatly to working with the board, as well as with Richard and his executive team, in taking Petra forward to the next stage of its development.”

At 1336 GMT, shares in Petra Diamonds were up 1.68% at 8.47p.