Anglo-Australian iron ore giant Rio Tinto Group has announced that its relevant stake in Riversdale Mining Limited (Riversdale) has increased to 17.86 percent, including the acceptance facilities. Rio Tinto's stake was 15.97 percent as of February 16, 2011.
The bidder has extended the offer period for its takeover bid for all shares in Riversdale Mining Limited (RML) by a period of 14 days. The offer is now due to close on March 18, 2011, unless further extended or withdrawn. The company pushed the deadline up twice before today.
Indian steel giant Tata Steel and Brazil's largest diversified steelmaker Cia Siderurgica Nacional SA (CSN) have recently increased their stake in Riversdale to 27.1 percent and 19.9 respectively. These two largest stakeholders have not made any moves to sell their stakes to Rio Tinto following the declaration of the bid.
Gigantic coking coal reserves
As SteelOrbis previously reported, Rio Tinto and Riversdale have entered into a ‘bid implementation agreement' for a cash offer through which Rio Tinto seeks to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of the company. The offer price of AU$16 per share values Riversdale at approximately AU$3.9 billion. The Australian miner is seeking at least 50 percent of Riversdale's stock.
Riversadale owns large coal mines in Mozambique and has become a target for global miners. Riversdale's assets include the Benga project and the neighbouring Zambeze project in Mozambique which have high quality coking coal.