Mick Davis

Sir Michael Lawrence Davis (born 15 February 1958) is a British‑South African businessman, financier and philanthropist who rose to prominence as the chief executive officer of Xstrata, transforming the firm from a modest mining outfit valued at £250 million into a global natural‑resources powerhouse worth £37 billion by 2010. He was raised in a South African Jewish family and attended Theodor Herzl School in Port Elizabeth before obtaining a bachelor of commerce from Rhodes University and qualifying as an accountant. Davis began his professional journey as a senior manager at Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co from 1980 to 1986, after which he moved to the state‑owned utility Eskom where he restructured its finances, although he left after not being appointed chief executive. In 1995 he became executive chairman of Ingwe Coal Corporation and, two years later, joined Billiton as chief financial officer and executive director, playing a key role in the company’s listing on the London Stock Exchange. As CEO of Xstrata from 2001 to 2013, he oversaw the IPO, the acquisitions of MIM Holdings and Falconbridge, and ultimately negotiated the high‑profile merger with Glencore, a deal that generated a personal windfall of £75 million for Davis. Following the merger, he founded X2 Resources, raising US$5.6 billion in 2015, but the venture was wound down in 2016 after failing to secure any mining contracts. In 2021 he launched Vision Blue Resources, a commodities investment firm that has raised more than US$650 million for mining projects and continues to operate globally. Parallel to his business career, Davis served as treasurer (2016‑2019) and chief executive (2017‑2019) of the British Conservative Party, contributing to fundraising and strategic initiatives before resigning in July 2019. He was knighted in the 2015 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to Holocaust commemoration, and he holds an honorary doctorate from Bar‑Ilan University. Davis is also a noted philanthropist, having chaired the Jewish Leadership Council, the Holocaust Memorial Commission, and serving as a trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Brookings International Advisory Council, and the Institute of National Security Studies. His involvement in the BSGR‑Guinea mining controversy, where he co‑founded Niron Metals to develop the Zogota deposit, attracted scrutiny but he stepped away from the project in 2021 to focus on other ventures. Davis is married to solicitor Barbara Davis, lives in London, and is the father of three children, Sarah, Ronit and Eitan.