UPDATE 1-Vedanta appoints former Rio Tinto head Albanese as CEO

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March 6 (Reuters) - Vedanta Resources Plc VED.L has appointed Tom Albanese as chief executive, pinning its hopes on the former Rio Tinto Plc RIO.L RIO.AX head to transform the India-focused miner into a global resources giant.

Albanese, 56, will take the helm on April 1. He will replace Mahendra Singh Mehta, whose departure had already been announced. News Search ID:nL3N0KA0XO

London-listed Vedanta said it also intended to recommend Albanese as chief executive of Sesa Sterlite Ltd SESA.NS , which groups most of the company's Indian assets.

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Albanese, who held the top job at Rio Tinto for almost six years, left in January 2013 after the company revealed a $14 billion writedown almost entirely on the value of his two most significant buys: Alcan and Mozambican coal company Riversdale.

Rio Tinto bought Alcan for $38 billion in 2007, a bruising, top-of-the-market deal made when the company was under pressure from rivals to bulk up or be bought. ID:L5N0HC3Z6

Albanese was one of several top mining chief executives who took the blame for their companies' relentless pursuit of growth during the boom years that ended in 2011, and for acquisitions that soured and turned into billions of dollars of writedowns.

(Reporting by Karen Rebelo and Roshni Menon in Bangalore; Editing by Robin Paxton)

((karen.rebelo@thomsonreuters.com)(within UK +44 20 7542 1810)(outside UK +91 80 6749 1136)(Reuters Messaging: karen.rebelo.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: VEDANTA CEO/