Rio Tinto delists from NZX

Global mining giant Rio Tinto has confirmed it is withdrawing from the New Zealand stock exchange as part of a global plan to reduce secondary listings. The majority owner of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter has informed the NZX that its listing will be cancelled at the end of trading on October 28, giving the required 10 working days notice. Rio said the move was part of the reduced need for secondary listings and was little more than an “administrative procedure to reduce listing costs and streamline reporting processes”. The company said the move will have no impact on Rio Tinto’s shareholders, operations, employees or other stakeholders in New Zealand. But there has already been an apparently unrelated change in the company’s New Zealand operations, with the head of the company operating the Tiwai Point smelter revealing this week that he would be leaving for Australia. New Zealand Aluminium Smelter general manager Paul Hemburrow will finish up at the smelter six days before the delisting to take up a support position at Rio Tinto Alcan's corporate head office in Brisbane. Commercial manager Jason Franklin will serve as acting general manager until a permanent replacement is found. Rio Tinto shares have been listed since 1992, but are a secondary listing and are not formally traded on the NZX. They will still be traded on the Australian Securities Exchange, with the stock also trading on the London and New York stock exchanges. New Zealand is part of a global strategy by the company to reduce the number of listings, with the company also delisting from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange for similar reasons.