Niall Fitzgerald, the deputy chairman of Thomson Reuters, has emerged as one of the favourites to succeed Peter Sutherland as chairman of BP when he steps down in April.

Shareholders of troubled miner Rio Tinto will argue they would have been better-served by a rights issue than the company’s preferred fund-raising plan to tackle its mammoth $40 bn of debt when they meet the world's second-largest miner’s management in coming weeks.

Rio Tinto, the embattled FTSE 100 mining giant, rebuffed a “low ball” offer from rival BHP Billiton for its stake in the world’s biggest copper mine last month.

Outlook In attempting to address its short-term financing needs, Rio Tinto seems to be selling its soul. With credit about as scarce as hen's teeth, lots of companies are facing a similar dilemma – sell choice assets for bottom-of-the-market prices, or go down.

Like everything else devised by the Bush administration, the $700bn Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Tarp) for bailing out the US banking system is being rethought.

Rio Tinto, the miner struggling with a $40 bn debt mountain of which about a quarter is due to be paid back in October, has shortlisted companies including buyout firms Apollo and Bain to buy its borates and talc business, which it is trying to sell for as much as $1 bn. The firms are among five on the list, including one more buyout firm, a Chinese bidder and a European company, which are undertaking due diligence and plan to make firm bids for the unit at the end of February, said sources familiar with the matter. The sale of its talc and borates business is one of several auctions the company is conducting. The London and Sydney-based miner put its engineered products and packaging units up for sale early last year. But neither has yet been sold as both processes have stalled.

United Company Rusal, the aluminium giant in effect controlled by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, has called in the London office of investment bank Rothschild to restructure its $14bn (£9.5bn) debt burden.

Outlook The oil giant BP has spent months wooing Paul Skinner to take over from Peter Sutherland as chairman, and finally it seems to have bagged its man, with news yesterday that Mr Skinner will be quitting as chairman of Rio Tinto in April. With an accomplished history in the oil industry, albeit with BP's big rival Shell, Mr Skinner ought to fit the position hand in glove. Yet first, he must deal with a little unfinished business.

Strong commodity prices are helping Rio Tinto, the world's second largest mining company, to beat all its records – and it is still saying no to rival and suitor BHP Billiton.

Rio Tinto brandished a record annual profit yesterday to bolster its case against a $147bn (£74bn) hostile takeover offer from BHP Billiton.