Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. Chief Executive Officer Bill Doyle, who fended off BHP Billiton Ltd.’s hostile takeover bid for the Canadian fertilizer producer only to later lose a price war with a Russian rival, will step down after almost 15 years.
He will be replaced in July by Jochen Tilk, the former CEO of Inmet Mining Corp., Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Potash Corp. said yesterday in a statement. Doyle, 63, will stay on through June 2015 as an adviser to the company where he’s worked for 27 years.
Doyle is also chairman of Canpotex Ltd., the marketing joint venture that controls the overseas exports of the three largest North American potash producers, including Potash Corp. A staunch defender of the price-supporting arrangement, in October he called Uralkali’s move self-destructive and “probably the single dumbest thing that I’ve ever seen.”