* To take up chairmanship in early 2010
* Current Chairman Don Argus will retire
* Nasser already on board as non-executive director
(Adds analyst comment, background, updates share price)
By Julie Crust
LONDON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc, the world's largest miner, named veteran former Ford Motor Co Chief Executive Jac Nasser as its new chairman, following an 18-month selection process.
He will succeed Don Argus, chairman for more than 10 years, who will retire in early 2010, BHP said on Tuesday.
Nasser, whose reputation as a cost-cutter earned him the nickname "Jac the Knife", was rumoured to be one of the front runners for the job. He joined the BHP Billiton board as a non-executive director in 2006 and is a member of the board's risk and audit committee.
Shares in BHP Billiton were down 2.4 percent at 1,586 pence in London at 1046 GMT, outperforming the UK mining index which was 2.9 percent lower.
"He has got a very international persona," said Charles Kernot, analyst at Evolution Securities, adding that Nasser is probably better for the company than the more Australian-centric John Schubert. "From that perspective it is probably good news."
Schubert, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia chairman, was the other front-runner for the position, the Financial Times reported last week, citing people close to the company.
Nasser, 61, was born in Lebanon and migrated at the age of four to Australia, where he later began his 33-year career with Ford. He was named head of the global automotive business in 1996 and became CEO in 1998. He was ousted as CEO in October 2001, a year when the automaker reported a $5.45 billion loss.
The loss in 2001 included the cost of eliminating 35,000 jobs, or about 10 percent of Ford's workforce, and closing at least three North American assembly plants.
One of the leading criticisms of Nasser among Wall Street analysts at the time was that he went on an acquisitions binge during his tenure at Ford, burning through cash to buy up companies like Volvo cars and Land Rover.
He is also a partner at One Equity Partners, the private equity arm of JP Morgan, a director of British Sky Broadcasting Plc and sits on the international advisory board of Allianz SE.
Argus, whose background was also outside of mining when he was appointed, has more than 40 years' experience in the banking industry. He was the first chairman of BHP Billiton after the merger of BHP and Billiton in June 2001. (Additional reporting by Jonathan Standing and Eric Onstad; Editing by John Stonestreet and David Holmes)