BHP (AU:BHP) has announced it was losing one director to a criminal probe and another to investor pressure just as Ken MacKenzie prepares to take the reins.

Malcolm Brinded and Grant King will not run for re-election to BHP’s board, the company announced.

Brinded was executive director of Shell (LN:RDSB) when it got the rights to a Nigerian oil field in 2011 in a deal now being looked at by Italian prosecutors. BHP said Brinded had stepped because of these "ongoing legal proceedings". He has been on the board since 2014 and will step down in October.

King is a much newer arrival, coming onto the board in March, but is quitting because of what BHP described as "concerns expressed by some investors". The last years of King’s tenure at Origin Energy (AU:ORG) were hit by a massive write-down on a purchase he oversaw in 2014.

The Australian Financial Review reported he was facing a ‘No’ vote of 40% at BHP’s annual general meeting in October.

Wesfarmers (AU:WES) finance director Terry Bowen and BP veteran John Mogford will replace the two on the board.

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