Aug.20, 2012 | 1:26 AM–”It wasn’t easy finding someone to fill the large shoes of an accomplished executive like Akiva Mozes, to take us to the next step,” said Israel Chemicals Chairman Nir Gilad on Friday, summing up the selection process of his designated replacement as president and CEO, Stefan Borgas.

Accolades like this are regularly heard on such occasions, yet the dry figures best convey just how high Mozes set the bar for whoever follows him: ICL’s sales turnover quadrupled during his tenure to $7 billion while its workforce grew just 13%, such that sales per employee more than tripled.

Net income increased 14-fold and the company’s market value soared from NIS 5 billion to NIS 61 billion – and all this was after distributing NIS 22 billion, which provided shareholders with 3.5% to 7.0% in dividend yields during the past five years.

His successor,. age 48, served as CEO of the Swiss pharamceutucals company Lonza AG, until he was dismised last January, and has been a director of Syngenta AG. He will assume his new post September 20.

The directors approved his appintment after an eight-month search.It will be first time that ICL, which under Mozes became a mutlinational, is headed by a foreigner.

Gilad, who is also CEO of The israel Corporation, ICL’s parent, said about half the foreign candidates who presented themselves dropped out when they were informed they would ahve to reside in Israel if the won the post.

Those who are less generous with Mozes’ legacy say it was the sharp rise in potash prices that was really behind ICL’s profits and takeoff in share price, but while that idea contains a grain of truth it ignores several facts: Potash output at the Dead Sea grew by 1.15 million tons during Mozes’ term, not including another 500,000-ton expansion to be completed in 2015, and also two European producers were acquired – raising potash output by another 2 million tons…Read More>>

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