BHP Billiton's takeover battle for Rio Tinto moved into increasingly hostile territory yesterday when BHP's chief executive launched an outspoken attack on his mining rival's past underperformance and growth prospects.

In an interview with the Financial Times at BHP's Melbourne headquarters, Marius Kloppers rounded on Rio's chief, saying: "Tom Albanese has been comprehensively outperformed [by BHP] in terms of volume growth, earnings per share growth, total return for shareholders and share price performance.