Ian Henderson has joined Gunvor as a consultant to the new metals team in Singapore, headed up by Rene van der Kam.

Henderson will remain based in Johannesburg, and will be responsible for originating and structuring long-term offtake contracts of industrial metals from Africa.

Henderson has spent the last decade working for commodity traders, including a seven-year stint at Texel Capital. He previously held positions at UFJ Bank, West LB and Standard Bank, among others.

He relocated to Johannesburg in early 2012 when he took up a position at MRI Trading, where he headed up the metal trading company’s Africa-focused business development. He was part of the senior management team that was forced to leave the company a year later by the new management brought in by logistics solutions provider CWT, which acquired a majority stake in MRI in 2011.