ADM names 3M’s Patolawala as its CFO amid US government investigation

(Reuters) -Archer-Daniels-Midland named manufacturing giant 3M’s Monish Patolawala as its CFO on Wednesday, as the grain trader tries to steer its way through multiple U.S. government investigations related to accounting irregularities.

Patolawala’s appointment at ADM will be effective Aug. 1, the company said. He will succeed interim CFO Ismael Roig, who has been serving in his role since January 2024.

In March, ADM had corrected six years of financial data after an internal investigation found some sales between business units within the company were not recorded properly.

ADM had put its then CFO Vikram Luthar on administrative leave in January before announcing his departure from the company in April.

“I think the move signals the board wanted to hire an outside CFO candidate as a way to start fresh following the accounting issues,” Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein said.

ADM said Patolawala would have an initial annual base salary of $1.425 million.

3M shares were down while ADM was up marginally in morning trade.

Some Wall Street analysts said Patolawala’s departure from 3M was expected as he was likely passed over for the role of CEO for industry veteran Bill Brown.

“We thought highly of Monish, and consider his four-year tenure at 3M to have been a success with clear and consistent messaging and the smoothly orchestrated Health Care spin,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Deane Dray wrote in a note.

3M rolled out a major restructuring last year that includes cutting thousands of jobs and the spinoff of its healthcare business into a listed company, to mitigate the slowdown in demand.