MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Rio Tinto sells mining assets in Argentina and Brazil

Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto Group is selling mining assets in Argentina, Brazil and Canada to Brazilian competitor Vale Doce for 1.6 billion US dollars in an attempt to reduce its 39 billion debt load y 10 billion. The group also admitted it was considering a big equity issue.

Vale Doce, owner of the former Inco nickel giant in Canada and the world's top iron ore miner, is buying Rio's potash operations in Argentina for 850 million US dollars and its Corumba iron ore mine in Brazil for 750 million US dollars. Rio Tinto has already sold 3.1 billion US of assets, including 50% of a Chinese aluminium smelter, while still looking for buyers of its US coal business and Alcan's packaging business. Rio Tinto said the latest sales represent a major step towards meeting its goal to reduce its 39 billion US debt load by 10 billion. Most of that debt was incurred for the 2007 takeover of Canadian aluminium group Alcan at the top of the commodities boom. Rio shares gained almost 5% in London on Friday. The company confirmed it is considering an equity issue. But analysts said the latest asset sales will ease the pressure to raise cash in a way that would dilute existing shareholders' interests. Guy Elliott, Rio Tinto's chief financial officer, said: "This transaction demonstrates the depth and quality of our asset portfolio and our ability to unlock value for shareholders despite tough credit markets and economic conditions". These assets had not been previously flagged as being for sale by the company. During 2008 Rio collected almost 3 billion from asset sales. Citigroup analyst Clarke Wilkins said the sale "highlights good prices for assets can still be achieved in the current market. It should also go a fair way to removing persistent market talk that the company needs to do a rights issue to meet the debt reduction target".