Chinalco part of Rio Rights 97 per cent acceptance

Spurned Rio Tinto suitor Aluminum Corp. of China has taken up all of its rights in the Rio issue, the company said today after Rio announced a 97 per cent acceptance for its offer. Rio turned to Chinalco in February, proposing a deal that would have seen the state-run aluminium company almost double its stake from 9.3 per cent to 18 per cent, but Rio walked away from the proposed $US19.5 billion ($A24.32 billion) deal, instead raising equity with Australian rival BHP Billiton. Rio says it received valid acceptances for almost 97 per cent of the 524 million new shares it offered in the rights issue that closed last night. The mining giant's 21 for 40 rights issue offered investors shares at at $A28.29 each. Rio's shares closed 60c down at $51.60 yesterday. The $US15.2 billion equity raising was launched to pay down some of Rio's $A48.27 billion of debt, mostly incurred by its takeover of Canadian aluminium giant Alcan in 2007. The rights issue closed for acceptances at 11am on Wednesday, London time and valid acceptances were received for 508,577,688 new Rio Tinto plc shares, representing approximately 96.97 per cent of the total number offered, Rio said. The underwriters of the rights issue, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan Cazenove, will be seeking subscribers for the remaining new Rio Tinto shares. The new shares are expected to commence trading on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday. source:www.thewest.com.au