(Financial Times) -- Two Russian billionaires have clashed publicly over corporate governance at the world's largest aluminium company, after Viktor Vekselberg said United Company Rusal was in "deep crisis" because of bad management and a heavy debt load. Mr Vekselberg resigned as Rusal's chairman on Monday night, saying it had been transformed from "a world leader in the aluminium industry into a company overburdened by debt and involved in a huge number of legal battles and social conflicts". Oleg Deripaska, Rusal's controlling shareholder and chief executive, hit back at Mr Vekselberg on Tuesday. "There is no crisis, either deep or shallow. There is a difficult situation on the market which determines the economic results," he said, adding that Rusal would replace him with an independent chairman.
@highlight
Two Russian billionaires clash on governance at the world's largest aluminium company,
@highlight
Viktor Vekselberg said Rusal was in "deep crisis" because of bad management
@highlight
Oleg Deripaska, Rusal's chief executive, said 'there is no crisis'
The deal, made at a big premium to the market price at the time, would have allowed @placeholder to pay off its $11.4bn debt burden and begin paying dividends to shareholders.