BHP Joins Mitsui, Chinalco in Rio Asset Chase, Australian Says

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- BHP Billiton Ltd. joined Mitsui & Co. and Aluminium Corp. of China in seeking a share of assets Rio Tinto Group is preparing to sell, the Australian newspaper reported, citing people it didn’t identify. Both BHP and Mitsui expressed interest in iron ore and coking coal assets that Rio may be prepared to sell, although neither has submitted formal or indicative offers, the newspaper said. Rio is considering as much as $15 billion of offers from Aluminum Corp. of China, known as Chinalco, for shares in projects including the Hamersley iron ore mines, the Weipa bauxite mines, the Gove alumina refinery and the Escondida copper project in Chile, it said. The interest by BHP and Mitsui is unlikely to delay Rio’s attempt to reach an agreement with Chinalco, the Australian said. Rio’s board was due to meet in an electronic session last night in a bid to come to a final agreement on plans to raise as much as $20 billion through either asset divestments, a discounted share sale or a combination of the two, it said. To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith in Sydney at amacdonaldsm@bloomberg.net