New BHP CEO Mike Henry to earn up to $11m a year

BHP’s incoming chief executive Mike Henry. Picture: Glenn Barnes

He’s BHP’s almost $11 million-a-year new top man.

Straitlaced, fifty-three year-old Canadian Mike Henry will start in the top job at the Big Australian on new year’s day, taking over from outgoing boss Andrew Mackenzie.

Henry, who is head of BHP’s mineral division, will be paid the same $US1.7 million base pay as that afforded to Mackenzie, who will stay on at the group until mid-next year.

Henry has been married for 30 years and has two older daughters who live in Canada, will also get $US170,000-a-year in super, plus a maximum annual short-term cash bonus of $US2.04 million.

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There’s also the potential for a long-term bonus - to be paid in shares - that could be worth up to $US3.4 million-a-year (that’s double his base pay), so that the new chief in a perfect world could be rewarded to the tune of $US7.31 million-a-year for the running the Ken Mackenzie-chaired international mining giant.

In local money that’s maximum take home of $10.7 million-a-year.

In comparison the retiring Mackenzie, 62, in the past financial year was paid “total actual remuneration” of $US3.53 million ($5.16 million) down 24 per cent compared with $US4.66 million ($6.81 million) the year before, with the outgoing Scottish-born chief’s lower pay reflected the workplace death of a coal miner in Queensland and operational problems across other areas of the business.

Demons, guitars and Japanese

For the record, new chief Henry, who, thanks to his mum’s heritage, speaks fluent Japanese, is two years younger than his highly-engaged chair, who was seven years younger than the outgoing boss.

All that potential dosh to new boss Henry, who supports local AFL establishment team Melbourne and is a self-taught guitarist, should be plenty for him to maybe splash out on some local Melbourne real estate.

As far we can tell the mining exec has for the past few years been renting a three-bedroom penthouse apartment on Melbourne’s St Kilda Road for about $1350 a week.

Henry’s open-ended contract, which has a 12 month notice period on either side, should give the Canadian the confidence to put down some deeper local roots.

Interesting now will be whether fiscally disciplined BHP chief financial officer Peter Bevan, who is said to have excused himself from the race for the top office for personal reasons, sticks around at the group to fulfil his commitments to instos to hold the purse strings tight.