Air Products Names Rockwood Executive Seifi Ghasemi CEO - Update

(RTTNews) - Industrial chemical and gas producer Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (APD) Wednesday said it has appointed Rockwood Holdings, Inc.'s (ROC) Seifi Ghasemi as its new chairman, president and chief executive officer, effective July 1. He succeeds John McGlade who will continue in his current role through June 30, and then retire.

Ghasemi joins Air Products from Rockwood Holdings, a producer of inorganic specialty chemicals, where he is chairman and chief executive officer since 2001. He has been serving as a director of Air Products since September 2013.

He has significant experience in overseeing international portfolio, and expertise in industrial gases, specialty chemicals and advanced materials industries.

Prior to Rockwood Holdings, Ghasemi was with UK-based engineering group GKN Plc (GKN.L), where he served in various leadership positions, including chairman and CEO of GKN Sinter Metals and as a director of the main board.

He also served The BOC Group, a global industrial gas company, for about 20 years. BOC is now part of German industrial gases producer Linde AG (LNAGF.PK, LNEGY.PK). He held various senior positions including President of BOC Gases, Americas, and was a member of the BOC Group board of directors.

Ghasemi currently serves on the board of directors of EnerSys, the largest industrial battery manufacturer in the world, and is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Chemetall GmbH, a global manufacturer and developer of specialty chemicals.

John McGlade has almost 40 years of service with Air Products.

Separately, Rockwood announced that Seifi Ghasemi will step down as the company's chief executive officer on June 30, 2014, in order to become chairman, president and chief executive officer of Air Products.

Ghasemi will remain chairman of the board of directors of Rockwood until January 1, 2015 and continue thereafter as director. Robert Zatta will take over as acting chief executive, effective July 1, in addition to his role as chief financial officer.

APD closed Tuesday's regular trading at $121.60 on the NYSE.