On April 6, Australian miner Rio Tinto announced that its relevant interest in Africa-focused Australian coal miner Riversdale Mining Limited (Riversdale) increased from 104,906,440 ordinary shares, i.e., 44.31 percent, on April 5, to 110,746,615 ordinary shares or 46.78 percent.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, on March 29 Rio Tinto declared its AU$3.9 billion takeover bid for Riversdale unconditional, but stated it would increase its AU$16 offer price to AU$16.50 per share if it obtained an interest in more than 47 percent of Riversdale shares by a new deadline at the end of April 6, 2011.
Riversdale owns large coal mines in Mozambique, including the Benga project and the neighboring Zambeze project which have high quality coking coal.
Currently, the Indian steel group Tata Steel and CSN of Brazil, which hold 27.1 percent and 19.9 percent of shares in Riversdale respectively, are the second largest and third largest shareholders of Riversdale.