Rio Tinto raises $40

Mining giant Rio Tinto, which has copper and titanium dioxide operations in South Africa, has defied the turmoil in the global credit market to raise the full $40 billion it needed to fund its acquisition of Canadian aluminium producer Alcan. According to UK reports, the amount raised by the British miner represents the biggest ever loan to a UK-listed company and the fourth-largest worldwide. According to London newspaper The Times, syndication of the record loan closed on Wednesday with the loan offering oversubscribed to $53 billion at the price originally offered. Four lead banks put the loan together: Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, SocGen and Credit Suisse, the newspaper reported. While the turbulence in global markets had raised some concern over Rio Tinto's ability to finance the deal and over the rising cost of funding, the success of the deal suggests that some parts of the credit market remain open. "This tells us that mining companies are popular with bankers as well as debt investors," John Meyer of Numis Securities said. Meyer said the success of Rio Tinto's debt offering in the credit markets heralds a new era in the scale of mining acquisitions. "Mining financiers indicate to us that recent credit market turmoil should not impact the lending of project finance to good quality projects and mining companies," he added.