Rockwood Holdings appoints new head of IR

New vice president to lead investor relations at specialty chemicals company

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Nahla Azmy has joined niche chemicals and advanced materials firm Rockwood Holdings as head of IR, bringing 15 years of finance and investor relations experience to the role.

She succeeds Timothy McKenna, who is taking up a government relations role after leading the IR and communications department for seven years.

‘We are pleased to welcome Nahla to Rockwood,’ says Seifi Ghasemi, chairman and CEO, in a company press release. ‘Her extensive experience working with the financial community at Lehman Brothers as an equity analyst and more recently as head of investor relations for NRG Energy, will enhance and build on Rockwood's investor relations program and will also enable Tim to shift his focus to strengthening the company's global government relationships.’

The company, which plans to buy back $400 mn in stock, saw two members of its board – Todd Fisher and Brian Carroll – resign earlier this month. The two men are partners at KKR, the private equity firm, which has been steadily cutting its stake in Rockwood.

Announcing the buyback plans, Ghasemi said the board’s approval ‘demonstrates our strong belief that the current Rockwood share price offers outstanding value and will enable us to use some of our existing cash to unlock value for our shareholders’.

Rockwood is set to release its 2012 year end and Q4 results at the end of February. Its last quarterly results, released in October, revealed a $73 mn – or 7.8 percent – drop in sales.