Rio chief quits after $14bn writedown Tom Albanese, the chief executive of Rio Tinto, has stepped down after the resources company booked US$14bn of impairment charges, most of them related to the disastrous acquisition of Alcan, its aluminium business. Rio said on Thursday that the value of its aluminium assets would be written down by US$10bn-US$12bn and that it would also take a US$3bn charge against its recently acquired Mozambique coal assets. The company also expects to report a number of smaller asset writedowns totalling around US$500m. Mr Albanese will be replaced by Sam Walsh, the head of Rio's Tinto iron ore division - its biggest and most profitable business. Rio paid $44bn, including debt, to buy Canada-based Alcan in June 2007, shortly before the worst of the global financial crisis hit in 2008. The deal saddled Rio with large debts and led to a $15.2bn rights issue. "The further deterioration in aluminium market conditions in 2012, together with strong currencies in certain regions and high energy and raw material costs, has had a negative impact on the current market values in the aluminium industry," Rio said in a statement. Jan du Plessis, Rio chairman, said the writedowns - the second for the Alcan business in less than a year - were "disappointing" and "unacceptable." Rio wrote down the value of Alcan by almost US$9bn last February, a decision that saw Mr Albanese waive his annual bonus. "The Rio Tinto board fully acknowledges that a writedown of this scale in relation to the relatively recent Mozambique acquisition is unacceptable," said Mr du Plessis. We are also deeply disappointed to have to take a further substantial writedown in our aluminium businesses, albeit in an industry that continues to experience significant adverse changes globally. Rio said Doug Ritchie, the executive who led the acquisition and integration of the Mozambique coal assets, had also stepped down by mutual consent with the board.