Indian-owned metal group Vedanta Resources' chairman Brian Gilbertson has quit after a boardroom row, but he walked away with a whopping 6.5 million pounds from his six months' work for the group.
South African-born 60-year-old Gilbertson, who left BHP Billiton last year with a four million pounds golden goodbye after another dispute, is now discussing an executive role at Sual, a Russian aluminium company and a potential rival to Vedanta Resources.
Vedanta Resources' founder and chief executive Anil Agarwal has appointed Michael Fowle as the new chairman while expressing gratitude for all Gilbertson had done.
He said it had been necessary for a parting of the ways given the "offer" from Sual.
"To obviate any possible conflict of interest, or the semblance thereof, it has been mutually agreed that he will step down from the chairmanship and the board of Vedanta," the company said in a statement.
Sual, a potential aluminium rival to Vedanta, is controlled by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg and Fleming Family and Partners, a private group owned by the Scottish banking dynasty.
There has been speculation that Sual was dangling a 27.4 million pounds carrot in front of Gilbertson, who is number one in the industry, to win his help with a possible stock market flotation. It was talks with Sual over Gilbertson taking on an executive role which led to a clash with Agarwal.
According to sources, Agarwal told Gilbertson he must choose between involvement with Sual or carrying on as non-executive chairman of Vedanta, which floated in London last December.
Gilbertson, who has been a non-executive director of a Sual-associated company Emergofin, chose to leave Vedanta following a board meeting on Monday night, the sources said.
Gilbertson, who had won plaudits for the successful merger of Australia's BHP with South Africa's Billiton to create a mining giant, was given 1.8m shares in Vedanta last year worth about 7 million pounds.
He sold 3.5 million pounds of that at the float and is keeping 938,000 shares, now worth about 2.6 million pounds, on top of the 175,000 pound fee he has earned (for being chairman) so far this year.
Gilbertson also had 50 per cent of his office accommodation and secretarial expenses paid for by Vedanta, the company said and the Vedanta annual report shows that its chairman was paid 15,000 pounds to take "professional advice in connection with the terms of his appointment."
The share price of Vedanta has not performed well since the float, moving downwards from 390p to last night's close at 288.75p.
