The Deal Pipeline (subscription required) shows investors
signed up to buy 96.97% of new Rio Tinto Group stock, worth about £7.1 billion ($11.7 billion). Though this helps quite a bit with its massive debt burden -- mostly incurred from its $38 billion acquisition of aluminum company Alcan in 2007 -- the Aussie mining company still needs to divest noncore assets.
An equities director at Aberdeen Asset Management told Reuters that Rio's relatively high exposure to aluminum was a drag and that it's now about getting the most out of their assets -- "if somebody would like to buy those assets, and offer a reasonable price, then
they'd be happy to divest."
Along with its
50-50 joint venture with BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE:BHP) and a $15.2 billion rights issue, Rio's debt will stand at about $23.2 billion. -
Baz Hiralal
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Juergen Lasowski
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