Trafigura signals a new era as head of gas and power steps up to chief executive

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An ex-soldier who is not yet 40 years old is about to lead one of the biggest trading houses in the world.

Richard Holtum’s rapid rise to chief executive of Trafigura signals a new era for the company as it moves beyond its roots in oil and metals trading and expands into gas and power, experts say.

The 39-year-old will be the third chief executive in three decades at the Swiss trading house, following founder Claude Dauphin and outgoing chief executive Jeremy Weir.

Holtum will bring military discipline and a highly competitive edge to the role, according to colleagues, as well as a keen eye for detail.

His appointment, announced on Tuesday, comes at a time of transition for Trafigura, one of the world’s largest commodity traders, as it expands into new areas such as energy and renewables.

Board member Sipko Schat said Holtum would take the company “into the next phase of its evolution” and praised his track record in building Trafigura’s gas, power and renewables business.

Holtum joined Trafigura in 2014 through its junior trading program and quickly rose through the ranks, becoming head of gas, power and renewables just eight years later.

He studied at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where he captained the polo team, then joined the British Army, training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Holtum has been a defender of the role of gas while overseeing the company’s investments in renewable energy.

“If you believe in the energy transition, believe in gas because the more renewables you add to the grid, the more gas you’ll need to provide that baseload power,” he told the FT Commodities Summit in April.

“We don’t know yet whether the fuel of the future will be hydrogen, ammonia, e-fuel, SAF (sustainable aviation fuel), whatever it is, but we are spending time developing the logistics chains to commercialize these molecules today. “, he added.

Holtum’s rapid rise comes on the back of strong turnover at the top of the business over the past 12 months.

Former chief operating officer Mike Wainwright retired in April, while former oil chief José Maria Larocca will leave at the end of September. Both have helped run the business alongside Weir since Dauphin’s death in 2015. CFO Christophe Salmon retired in June after 12 years with the company.

While some of the departures reflect natural attrition among a group of executives that Trafigura has made enormously rich, other changes have been forced. Wainwright and Trafigura are due to stand trial in Switzerland in December for alleged bribery in Angola between 2009 and 2011.

Wainwright denies the allegations against him and Trafigura says it will defend itself in court.

The groundwork for Holtum’s succession was finalized last September, according to people familiar with the process, when Hadi Hallouche left the management team. Hallouche has long been seen as a likely successor to Weir, but now heads Trafigura’s downstream oil business, Puma Energy.

Trafigura, which is based in Singapore but whose largest office is in Geneva, has its roots in oil trading and was founded in 1991 by a group of traders who split with trader Marc Rich.

The company has since become one of the world’s largest metals traders and also has considerable infrastructure assets, including mines, pipelines and fuel stations.

Along with rivals Glencore, Mercuria, Gunvor and Vitol, Trafigura has enjoyed record profits in recent years as global conflict and the Covid pandemic fueled price volatility.

The company reported a profit of $7.4 billion in the 2023 financial year, four times the 2020 level.

Under Holtum, the gas and power division enjoyed record profits.

Holtum has a keen eye for detail and makes decisions quickly, according to Ben Luckock, Trafigura’s global head of oil.

“Working with him, I would say I admire his attention to detail. He reads contracts and asks questions,” Luckock said. “He also has that sporting background. . . He likes the competition.”

Holtum’s appointment highlights a fundamental shift taking place across all major trading houses, according to Jean-Francois Lambert, head of consultancy Lambert Commodities.

Founded on trading oil, they have diversified into metals and more recently into energy and renewables.

“Electricity and energy trading will gradually take over from the oil industry,” Lambert said. “It will take time. But this is a new era.”