Rio Tinto assurance on Alcan

MINING giant Rio Tinto does not expect its $45.6 billion takeover of Canadian aluminium producer Alcan will face any major hurdles from Australian financial regulators. Rio Tinto chairman Paul Skinner told a general meeting of its UK shareholders in London that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Foreign Investment Review Board had started reviewing the deal. "As far as we are concerned, they should both proceed normally and I wouldn't want to suggest anything unusual about the way they are happening," he said. "Our expectation is that this transaction will complete in the fourth quarter." Rio Tinto has received Canadian Competition Bureau approval.