Rio Tinto’s rights offer has been a big success in the UK, with shareholders taking up 96.97% of the London shares offered, raising around 7.1 billion pounds.
Following this news, major shareholder Chinalco announced it would also take up its full entitlement.
The results of the Australian rights issue are not yet known.
The Rio share price was up this morning on market open:
ASX Code: RIO
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For more details on this news story:
For anyone interested in the ongoing speculation about Rio Tinto s plans, Malcolm Maiden has provided some new material today in his article for Fairfax.
Following Rio chief Jan du Plesssis Monday morning denial of having met with BHP chairman Don Argus, the pair did in fact meet up later that same day, according to this article.
While this could mean nothing at all, says Maiden, it could also mean a lot since Argus has been known to state that BHP would be a better partner for Rio than Chinalco.
In his first conference as Rio chairman, Jan du Plessis reaffirmed the company s commitment to the Chinalco deal, and played down talk of a rights issue.
To read the full article, click here
Codes for your watchlist:
According to British media, Rio Tinto is planning an $8 billion rights issue as a backup plan, if the Chinalco deal falls through.
An article in the Times Online has it that Rio has had this contingency plan in place since February, and suggests this backup source of income will boost the confidence of investors. Intriguing!
Rio Tinto s plan to sell strategic mining assets to Chinalco has faced considerable opposition from major shareholders and from the government s Foreign Investment Review Board, but the share price has nonetheless been on the rise since December.
Click here to read the full article.
