Walton, currently chair of Goldenport Holdings Inc. and Lothian Buses Plc., will join the coal producer’s board in Q1 2014 as an independent non-executive director before becoming chairman, Asia Resource officials said in a statement. Nick Salmon will become a non-executive director; Julian Horn-Smith, current deputy chairman, will step down next month, company representatives added.

Shareholders approved a $501 million deal to separate from Indonesia’s Bakrie family and change its name. Both sides had sought a split since 2012 after relations between co-founder Nathaniel Rothschild and the Bakrie clan soured amid financial probes in Asia and the U.K.; the company plans to return more than $400 million in proceeds to shareholders.