Chairman resigns from Kazakh group ENRC

The chairman of the London-listed Kazakh miner ENRC, Mehmet Dalman, resigned with immediate effect last night in a boardroom shake-up likely to raise new questions over the future of the embattled company.

ENRC was already facing concerns, as it struggles to move on from damaging battles between directors and its trio of founding shareholders. The company is wrestling with the consequences of a growth spree that left it sitting on $5bn (£3bn) of debt. It also faces allegations of corruption and, as of Friday, a potential buyout bid.

Mr Dalman, whose resignation follows weeks of market rumours over his future, has been replaced by Gerhard Ammann, an independent non-executive director.

Unlike Mr Dalman – a dapper former investment bank deal maker who courted investors and the media – Mr Ammann, the former head of auditing firm Deloitte in Switzerland, is likely to be unknown to most.

He described his goal as working "efficiently with internal and external stakeholders to draw a line under the past", and reviving ENRC's languishing shares.