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An ex-soldier who has not yet turned 40 is about to run one of the world’s largest trading houses.
Insiders say Richard Holtum’s rapid rise to become chief executive of Trafigura signals a new era for the company as it moves beyond its roots in oil and metals trading, and expands in gas and power.
The 39-year-old will be the third chief executive in three decades at the Swiss trading house, following founder Claude Dauphin and outgoing chief executive Jeremy Weir.
Holtum will bring a military discipline and highly competitive edge to the role, according to colleagues, as well as a keen eye for detail.
His appointment, announced on Tuesday, comes at a moment of transition for Trafigura, one of the world’s largest commodity traders, as it expands into new areas such as power and renewables.
Board member Sipko Schat said Holtum would take the company “through the next phase of its evolution”, and praised his record of building Trafigura’s gas, power and renewables business.
Holtum joined Trafigura in 2014 via its junior trading programme and rose rapidly through the ranks, becoming head of gas, power and renewables just eight years later.
He studied at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where he was captain of the polo team, and then joined the British Army, training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
Holtum has been a defender of the role of gas, while also overseeing the company’s investments in renewable energy.
“If you believe in the energy transition you believe in gas, because the more renewables you add to the grid, the more gas you are going to need to provide that baseload power,” he told the FT Commodities Summit in April.
“We don’t know yet whether the fuel of the future will be hydrogen, ammonia, e-fuel, SAF [sustainable aviation fuel]whatever it is, but we are spending the time to develop the logistics chains to trade those molecules today,” he added.
Holtum’s rapid ascent follows heavy turnover at the top of the business in the past 12 months.
Former chief operating officer Mike Wainwright retired in April, while the former head of oil José Maria Larocca will leave at the end of September. Both had helped run the business, alongside Weir, since the 2015 death of Dauphin. Chief financial officer Christophe Salmon retired in June after 12 years at the company.
While some of the departures reflect natural attrition among a group of executives that Trafigura has made hugely wealthy, other changes have been forced. Wainwright and Trafigura are due to go on trial in Switzerland in December over alleged bribery in Angola between 2009 and 2011.
Wainwright rejects the charges against him, and Trafigura says it will defend itself in court.
The groundwork for Holtum’s succession was completed last September, according to people familiar with the process, when Hadi Hallouche left the senior leadership team. Hallouche had long been seen as a likely successor to Weir but now runs Trafigura’s downstream oil business, Puma Energy.
Trafigura, which is headquartered in Singapore but whose largest office is in Geneva, has its roots in oil trading and was founded in 1991 by a group of traders who split off from trader Marc Rich.
Since then the company has grown into one of the largest metals traders in the world, and also has sizeable infrastructure assets, including mines, pipelines and fuel stations.
Along with rivals Glencore, Mercuria, Gunvor and Vitol, Trafigura has enjoyed record profits in recent years as global conflict and the Covid pandemic have driven volatility in prices.
The business reported $7.4bn in profit in the 2023 financial year, four times higher than the level of 2020.
Under Holtum the gas and power division has enjoyed record profits.
Holtum has a keen eye for detail and takes decisions quickly, according to Ben Luckock, Trafigura’s global head of oil.
“Working with him, I would say I admire his attention to detail. He does read contracts and ask questions,” said Luckock. “He also has that sporting background . . . He enjoys the competition.”
Holtum’s appointment highlights a fundamental shift taking place across all the large trading houses, according to Jean-Francois Lambert, head of consultancy Lambert Commodities.
Founded on oil trading, they have diversified to metals, and more recently, to power and renewables.
“Electricity and power trading are gradually going to take over from the oil business,” said Lambert. “It will take time. But this is a new era.”