Ex-Glencore Oil Boss Exits Board of Investment Firm He Founded

(Bloomberg) -- Alex Beard, the billionaire former head of oil at Glencore Plc, has left the board of an investment company he founded after exiting the commodity trading giant.

Beard’s role as a director of Adaptogen Capital, which he and several others started to invest in large-scale batteries connected to the UK grid, was ended on July 12, according to a filing at Companies House.

The filing gave no reason for the change. Patrick Kilkenny, Adaptogen’s chief financial officer, said the company had no comment on the situation. A spokesperson for Beard didn’t immediately provide comment.

Beard was one of Glencore’s top executives for more than a decade before his departure in 2019 and a member of the inner circle of former chief executive officer Ivan Glasenberg. Known for his acumen trading Russian oil, he was elevated to lead the department in 2007, and when Glencore listed in London in 2011 he was revealed as one of its largest shareholders and a billionaire.

Beard had seen Adaptogen as new chapter. “I have time for a second career in energy markets,” he told Reuters in 2021 in an interview discussing the investment company.

--With assistance from Jonathan Browning.