Feb 13 (Reuters) – Sibanye Stillwater founder and dealmaker Neal Froneman will retire as CEO at the end of September to be succeeded by Richard Stewart, current head of the company’s operations in Southern Africa, it said on Thursday.

Stewart joined Sibanye in 2014 and has long been touted by investors as a possible successor to Froneman, who turns 66 in September.

Froneman has led Sibanye since 2013, when the company was formed through the combination of three old Gold Fields mines. Since then, Sibanye has grown into a diversified miner with gold and platinum group metal (PGM) operations in Southern Africa and the United States.

Froneman also drove the acquisition of lithium assets in Finland and a zinc operation in Australia as he sought to position the company to tap into the green energy transition.

The deal spree has weighed on Sibanye’s balance sheet and the Johannesburg-based miner has also struggled with falling profits as PGM prices, particularly palladium, retreated from the record highs of March 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

($1 = 18.5036 rand)

(Reporting by Nelson Banya and Felix Njini; Editing by David Goodman)