Croatian Andronico Luksic Steps Down
Antofagasta chairman hands over to son
LONDON (Reuters) - The majority owner of Chilean copper miner Antofagasta, Andronico Luksic, has stepped down as chairman.
Luksic, ranked by Forbes magazine as the world's 140th richest man, chose his 78th birthday to hand the chairmanship to his son, Jean-Paul Luksic, who is chief executive of Antofagasta's mining division and had been deputy-chairman of the company.
Andronico Luksic, whose father emigrated from Croatia in 1910, bought a majority stake in the 116-year-old firm in 1980, when it was known as Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway Company.
He branched into banking, telecommunications and mining, turning the company, currently worth 2 billion pounds, into one of the world's biggest copper producers.
The Luksic family owns 65 percent of Antofagasta ANTO.L , making it one of the FTSE-100 index's .FTSE most closely held stocks.
The company said in a statement on Friday it had invited the elder Luksic to become Honorary President.
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