The departure of Vivian Wu, reportedly due to personal reasons, occurs in the midst of a complex financial situation for the firm.
New and surprising news hits Tianqi Lithium. On Wednesday, its director and president, Wu Wei (Vivian Wu), announced his resignation from the board of directors of the Chinese company, for which he will cease to hold the position of the company, its subsidiaries and shareholding companies. This, despite the fact that his term ended in February 2023.
As reported in a letter to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Friday, the executive owns 1,081,575 shares of the company and resigned for “personal reasons”.
The executive, who joined the company in 2011, was a key figure for Tianqi’s entry into the SQM property that only a few months ago he served one year on the board of directors of the non-metallic mining company.
Wu from China closely monitored what was the “business of the year” when on December 3, 2018, in an auction at the Santiago Stock Exchange, the Chinese Tianqi was left with 24% of the property of SQM, thus marking Nutrien’s exit from the non-metallic mining company and the end of a long process that was marked by the opposition of Julio Ponce Lerou, although these differences were later resolved.
The auction of the shares of series A was at US $ 65 per share with which the Chinese took the package in about US $ 4.07 billion. Wu even landed in Chile in June of last year where he met with Ponce in the salt flats and analyzed Tianqi’s entry into SQM.
Although Tianqi indicated that it would develop the corresponding procedures for the tasks that the executive will leave vacant, his successor in the presidency will be Jiang Weiping, who will serve until reappointment.
According to Tianqi records on its website, Weiping is the founder and chairman of the board, with more than 15 years of experience in the lithium industry. He established Tianqi Group in 2003 and has served as its chairman since its establishment.
“The company and the board of directors of the company have contributed to the hard work of Wu Wei and the development of the company during his tenure. Express my sincere thanks,” concludes the document signed by the board of directors of the Chinese firm.
Although personal reasons were alluded to, Tianqi would be facing a difficult financial scenario. In April it reported that it expected its net loss for 2019 to double that expected, after increasing its provision against the shares it owns in SQM due to the impact of the coronavirus.
Tianqi, which has run into liquidity problems as it seeks to repay loans taken to buy the 24% stake in the non-metallic miner, it estimated an annual net loss of 5.98 billion yuan (US $ 843.6 million) in a filing with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
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