The board of RUSAL Plc, the world's largest aluminium company, has elected Barry Cheung of the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange as its new chairman after billionaire Viktor Vekselberg quit this week, the company said on Friday. RUSAL, whose chief executive and main owner is rival Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, said Vekselberg - who had blamed management for plunging the company into a "deep crisis" - had jumped before he was pushed for not attending board meetings.
The shareholder dispute revolves around Deripaska's refusal over the past year to sell a strategic stake in Arctic miner Norilsk Nickel in a deal that could have cleared RUSAL's $11 billion debt burden at a stroke. Cheung, an independent director of Hong Kong-listed RUSAL, will be charged with steadying a ship still rocking from Vekselberg's parting shot. He will conduct an immediate review of corporate governance and report back next month.
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