Craftsman with Paul Skinner the former President of Rio Tinto replaced since April by Jan du Plessis of the redemption to the high price of Alcan end of 2007 and $ 19.2 billion alliance just roll over with the Chinese of Chinalco, Tom Albanese is the target of harsh criticism. Behind the scenes, several London investors who have been at the head of the frond that led to the failure of the strategic partnership with Chinalco want his resignation.
It is true that the Bill for these two operations (38.1 billion for the acquisition of the Canadian producer of grey metal and an addition of approximately $ 600 million related to the withdrawal of the agreement with the Chinese) is particularly high for a group whose net debt amounted to us $ 38 billion. In particular, the weight of Alcan continues to weigh on the accounts of Rio Tinto. In the first quarter of 2009 were posted a loss of activities in aluminum of $ 481 million. It is also true that Tom Albanese and Paul Skinner were fiercely opposed to the merge proposed last year by BHP Billiton. Same BHP Billiton today out Rio Tinto of the impasse in agreeing to pay $ 5.8 billion in cash to equalize interests of the two mining companies in the joint venture of iron ore ("Les Echos" of yesterday).
For certain shareholders fairly also angered by the decision of the Rio Tinto Group to not pay dividend in respect of the first half of 2009, it takes more to justify the eviction of Tom Albanese.
Sam Walsh rises
But this is not so simple. First of all, the Executive Director of Rio Tinto is the only one, to date, to have a perfect knowledge of the operations of the mining group. Appointed at the beginning of December 2006, this italo-américain engineer trained in mine joined Rio Tinto in 1993 then dealing with success of all of the mining group exploration activities. Tom Albanese is therefore equipped with experience and qualities which are irreplaceable at this stage.
Rising star, the Australian Sam Walsh, fifty years, just be integrated into the Board of Directors of Rio Tinto and who will chair the joint venture with BHP Billiton, has a profile too focused on iron ore and aluminum, which he led between 2001 and 2004. However, his skills in business functions the place in a choice position in a difficult market for mineral resources environment. It was, with Jan du Plessis, one of the main supporters of the alliance with BHP Billiton.
From the perspective, in time, a possible friendly merger between the two mining giants, the opinion of Sam Walsh weigh in the balance. Currently, Rio Tinto is not replacement for Tom Albanese. That is why Jan du Plessis reiterated with force its support to the Executive Director of the group. "This is a great man of land", he said Friday. However, it is likely that he will make one not back by focusing on operational management of assets of Rio Tinto and leaving to the new President the definition of its strategic orientations.
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