Henry Laas appointed Chief Executive Designate

31 March 2011

The Board of Murray & Roberts Holdings is pleased to announce the appointment of Henry Laas as CEO designate and successor to Brian Bruce. Henry will be appointed a director of Murray & Roberts Holdings Limited from 1 April 2011. This appointment allows an orderly handover of responsibility for the future of Murray & Roberts over the three months to 30 June 2011, including the appointment of a finance director successor to Roger Rees.

Roy Andersen, chairman of Murray & Roberts Holdings comments: "We are delighted with Henry's appointment. Henry's selection follows an extensive domestic and international search and the Board is pleased that an internal candidate was selected and is confident that he is the best candidate to take Murray & Roberts forward."

Henry Laas, CEO designate comments: "This is an extraordinary opportunity for me to lead the Group through a period of recovery and growth. After 10 years in the Group and several years serving on the board of Murray & Roberts Limited, I have a comprehensive understanding of the business. We have immediate challenges to overcome and I am focused on achieving our goals"

Henry is 51 years old and holds a B.Eng (Mining) degree from the University of Pretoria and an MBA from the University of the Witwatersrand. He has extensive experience in the mineral resources and mining contracting sectors. As managing director of Murray & Roberts Cementation and its predecessor RUC Mining Contractors over 10 years since March 2001, he played an instrumental role in the expansion of the Cementation Group global footprint as a highly successful business. During this period he significantly improved the overall performance profile of the South African company, which showed annual revenue growth from R420 million in 2001 to R3.6 billion in 2010 including the acquisition of the Cementation Group in 2005.

Henry was recently appointed executive chairman of the Group's Engineering Cluster of businesses, which includes the Group's involvement in the Eskom Power Program.                

"Henry has a proven track record of business development and management within the Murray & Roberts Group. We look forward to supporting Henry throughout his tenure as chief executive," concludes Andersen. 

About Murray & Roberts

Murray & Roberts is South Africa's leading engineering, contracting and construction services company, with a primary focus on the resources-driven construction markets in industry & mining, oil & gas and power & energy in Africa, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australasia and North and South America. The company offers civil, mechanical, electrical, mining and process engineering; general building and construction; materials supply and services to the construction industry; and management of concession operations.

For further information contact:

Mr Ed Jardim
Group Communications Executive
Mobile +27 (0) 83 357 6282
e-mail: eduard.jardim@murrob.com

Murray & Roberts Client Service
Tel:      +27 (0)11 456 1144
Fax:     +27 (0)86 637 0113
e-mail: clientservice@murrob.com

Back to News