Petroneft Resources PLC (LSE:RTP)
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Rio Tinto Ltd. (RTP) Chief Executive Tom Albanese is unlikely to face shareholder anger over the collapse of the US$116 billion Pilbara iron ore joint venture with BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), a top-10 investor in the company's Australian listing said Monday.

Major shareholders would be more focused on the decent performance of the company over the past year and its prospects for organic growth, he said.

"You don't hear people baying for blood any more," said the investor, who wishes to remain anonymous.

Rio's board endured stern criticism from shareholders in the wake of the company's debt-fueled US$38.1 billion takeover of Canada's Alcan in 2007 and during 2009, when U.K. shareholders objected to the process of a proposed placing to Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. (ACH), or Chinalco.

Rio's former chairman, Paul Skinner, stepped down last April after attacks from shareholders over the Alcan deal, and planned successor Jim Leng quit before taking up his post amid reports of board disagreements about the Chinalco placing.

However, the failure of the Pilbara venture had been widely expected and is unlikely to drive further criticism of Albanese or Chairman Jan du Plessis, the investor said.

"People were crying for some action after Alcan but times have changed. These people have made a lot of money, they're investing again, and people have moved on from that thematic," he said.

"They've got some good organic growth and after Alcan they're unlikely to launch into [a takeover] on that scale."

-By David Fickling, Dow Jones Newswires; +61 2 8272 4689; david.fickling@dowjones.com