Jim Leng, chairman of Corus, the UK steelmaker, has quit as chairman-designate of Rio Tinto after a split with Tom Albanese, chief executive, over the group’s financial strategy. The Anglo-Australian miner is trying to reduce a $37bn debt burden. Leng was appointed by Rio less than four weeks ago to take over from Paul Skinner, who was to retire in April. But Rio said late Sunday that Leng had resigned his board seat “with immediate effect”. It is understood Leng and Albanese disagreed over a potential cash injection from Chinalco, the Chinese state-owned aluminium producer and Rio’s largest shareholder. Skinner, who has agreed to stay on at Rio until mid-year, is a front-runner to become chairman of BP.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Monday, February 9th, 2009 at 5:39 and is filed under Capital markets, People. Tagged with bp, Jim Leng, rio tinto. Edit this entry.