METALS PEOPLE - Mark Askew leaves Metro warehousing firm

Perrine Fayeperrine.faye@fastmarkets.comDeputy Editor-in-Chief; Head of Physical+44 (0) 20 7337 2140

Santiago 11/04/2013 - Mark Askew, vice president of marketing at Goldman Sachs's warehouse operator Metro International Trade Services, has left after 12 years at the firm.

"I can confirm he has resigned this morning," Metro CEO Chris Wibbelman told FastMarkets in response to market speculation.

Wibbelman also said he had no knowledge of any plan by owner Goldman Sachs to sell Detroit-based Metro following a news report alleging this possibility today.

"Before Mark, Metro was a one-trick pony - they basically had metal in Long Beach and were about to close down Detroit," one source said.

Askew joined Metro in 2000, having previously worked for Canadian copper producer Noranda, and held other roles in the platinum, coking coal and concentrates sectors.

Metro, which is focussed on LME-listed warehousing operations, was acquired by Goldman Sachs in 2010. Goldman Sachs' metal team has seen numerous changes in recent months amid unconfirmed speculation of worse-than-expected performance in 2012.

After Stephen Branton-Speaks' departure last year, Scott Evans and David Freeland recently left the company's physical trading team.

A news report earlier today said Goldman Sachs was "exploring" a sale of Metro just three years after the US bank bought the firm for $550 million.

Revenues at Goldman's commodities trading division have dropped sharply in the past three years to just $575 million in 2012, or just three percent of total income.

(Editing by Mark Shaw)

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