2nd UPDATE: Rio Tinto In Talks To Save Bid For Riversdale
29 März 2011 - 5:13AM
Dow Jones News
Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) has failed to reach the majority stake it
was chasing in its almost US$4 billion bid to bolster its coking
coal assets with an extensive deposit in Mozambique, but continues
last-minute negotiations with a key shareholder in Riversdale
Mining Ltd. (RIV.AU).
A person familiar with the bid said the Anglo-Australian mining
company was negotiating to buy shares from Brazilian steel producer
Cia. Siderurgica Nacional (SID), which earlier this year increased
its stake in Riversdale to 19.9%.
Rio said Tuesday it has raised its interest in Sydney-based
Riversdale and received acceptances that would give it a 41.04%
stake, short of the more than 50% threshold Rio had set for a
sweetened offer of A$16.50 a share by a late Monday deadline.
Costas Condoleon--a partner at law firm Minter Ellison Group,
which represents Rio Tinto--in a letter released through the
Australian stock exchange said Rio is in talks with a major
shareholder in the coal company to secure a sufficient number of
shares to gain it a majority stake. Trading in Riversdale shares
has been halted.
A spokeswoman for Rio Tinto said the company remained hopeful
its takeover offer would be successful.
A successful deal would mark Rio Tinto's first major acquisition
since its ill-timed US$38 billion takeover of Canadian aluminum
producer Alcan Inc. in 2007 and would have landed it control of two
major developing coking coal projects in an area of Mozambique
attracting interest from mining and steel companies around the
world. The success of the deal rested in large part on Riversdale's
two largest shareholders, two steel producers that together own a
47% stake but have remained quiet since the offer was first made in
December.
The offer has been extended four times and was earlier this
month lifted from A$16. Under the terms previously set out by Rio,
the offer should revert to the earlier price and is set to close
April 6.
Rio Tinto in a statement said it now has an almost 21% interest
in Riversdale and has received acceptances for slightly more than
20% of Riversdale's shares.
Minter Ellison's Condoleon said if Rio secures Riversdale shares
from the major shareholder, it is likely the offer would
immediately be declared unconditional--a step fund managers have
said would free funds with shares in Riversdale to accept the
takeover offer. Condoleon in the letter said the discussions
between Rio and the shareholder are likely to reach an outcome
early Tuesday.
Riversdale operates a colliery in South Africa and is developing
two projects in neighboring Mozambique. The company's executives in
January said that should Rio's offer fail, Riversdale would need to
turn to its shareholders, the bond market and other sources to
raise more than US$3 billion needed to fund the projects.
Support for the offer has slowly gained traction in recent weeks
but was always going to be a close call without either Indian steel
producer Tata Steel Ltd. (500470.BY) or CSN selling some or all
their shares to Rio. CSN in February edged up its stake in
Riversdale to 19.9% and then Tata Steel early this month raised its
stake 2.9 percentage points to 27.1%.
Analysts have speculated that CSN and Tata increased their
stakes to ensure they can negotiate for supplies of coking coal, a
key raw material in steel making. The two clashed in early 2007
with the takeover of British steelmaker Corus Group PLC, bidding
that was only settled by a nine-round sudden-death auction that
pushed the price for winner Tata up by several billion dollars to
US$12.2 billion.
CSN spokespeople weren't immediately reachable when telephoned
out of business hours, and a spokesman for Tata declined to comment
late Monday.
-By Robb M. Stewart, Dow Jones Newswires; +61 3 9292 2094;
robb.stewart@dowjones.com
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