Rio Tinto shareholders OK $38bn Alcan takeover

More than 97% of diversified miner Rio Tinto's shareholders have voted in favour of the company buying Alcan, the aluminium producer that plans a smelter project for Coega, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Rio Tinto chairperson Paul Skinner said on Friday that the transaction would bring the company a set of aluminium assets that would transform its aluminium business into a world leader. Rio Tinto planned to wrap up the deal before the end of this year. Alcan is planning on developing the long-awaited anchor project for the industrial development zone, and has already signed a power deal for it with Eskom, the State-owned power firm. The firm said earlier that it was planning to start constructing the smelter by the middle of next year, but it was speculated that the takeover talks could impact negatively on the timing of the project. Earlier this year, aluminium giant Alcoa launched a failed $33-billion hostile takeover bid for Alcan. Negotiations for the smelter had been halted in 2003, after Alcan bought Pechiney.