Alcan-Rio Tinto marriage process begins

MONTREAL - Few, if any, Canadians will witness the beginning of the final chapter of Alcan Inc. as a stand-alone company as it unfolds this morning in the auditorium of a major investment house in London. Shareholders of Rio Tinto PLC, the U.K. component of the Anglo-Australian mining colossus, are to vote on a resolution to approve the $38.1-billion US takeover of Montreal-based Alcan. "We're not really expecting many people to attend. (The meeting) will be a short and fairly formulaic," Rio Tinto spokesman Nick Cobban said. That's a marked contrast to the multi-media conferences that were webcast from London, Montreal and Australia's Melbourne and Sydney on July 12 to trumpet the shotgun marriage of Rio Tinto and Alcan. In London today and Melbourne later this month, the meetings' tone may reach sedate. "There is a single motion on the agenda that will be voted on and that will be it,"Cobban said. Most shareholders are expected to vote by proxy - ballots by mail. And the outcome of the votes won't be announced until after Rio Tinto Ltd. shareholders have convened in the theatre of the Melbourne Convention Centre in Australia on Sept. 28 (Sept. 27 in Canada). "A straight 50 per cent majority of the combined shareholders is required" for the takeover to go through, Cobban said. That announcement is expected shortly after the Melbourne meeting. As with Alcan shareholder acceptance of Rio Tinto's all-cash offer of $101 per share, Rio Tinto shareholder acceptance is considered a foregone conclusion. If that's the case, Alcan becomes Rio Tinto Alcan, headquartered in Montreal and headed by current Alcan chief executive officer Dick Evans. The new company, global in scope and ambition, becomes the world leader in aluminum and bauxite and positioned to become world leader in alumina. Its revenues, according to calculations based on 2006 figures, are about $49 billion.