Rio Tinto on verge of becoming aluminium supremo
Published by MAC on 2007-08-30
Rio Tinto on verge of becoming aluminium supremo
30th August 2007
The world's second-highest capitalised mining company has made a giant leap forward some might think, backwards) by agreeing a friendly acquisition of Alcan, Canada's premier integrated aluminium producer. Only an extraordinary shareholders meeting, scheduled for September 14th, stands in the company's way of becoming the world's major player in this field: the outcome is virtually certain.
Underwriting the deal's syndicated US40 billion loan - claimed by Rio Tinto as the largest ever raised in the UK and fourth biggest in the world - are three major investment banks, RBS (UK), Deutsche Bank (Germany) and Credit Suisse (Switzerland).