Rio Tinto CEO Says He Still Has Support Of The Board
June 05 2009 - 1:33AM
Dow Jones News
Rio Tinto Ltd. (RTP) Chief Executive Tom Albanese said Friday he
retains the confidence of the company's board following termination
of the miner's planned US$19.5 billion alliance with Aluminum Corp.
of China, or Chinalco.
Some analysts believe Albanese should step down after presiding
over the top-of-the-cycle purchase of Alcan, refusing to engage
with BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AU) on its takeover offer and then
promoting an unpopular tie up with Chinalco, which has now been
scuttled.
However, Albanese defended his actions during what he said was a
period of unprecedented volatility and said he still has the
support of the board.
Albanese said he was personally disappointed that the Chinalco
deal had failed and looked forward to future engagement with the
Chinese group.
"I look forward to working with Chinalco in the future, finding
opportunities for mutual engagement and mutual cooperation and
seeing if we can create new forms of synergies in the future," he
said.
-By Alex Wilson, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-3-9292-2094;
alex.wilson@dowjones.com