Rio Tinto Group has agreed to buy out Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. in a deal valued at about $3.3 billion to add more control of a giant copper mine in Mongolia.
(Bloomberg) — Rio Tinto Group has agreed to buy out Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. in a deal valued at about $3.3 billion to add more control of a giant copper mine in Mongolia.
The C$43 ($33) a share deal comes two weeks after Turquoise Hill rebuffed a lower offer from Rio and ends almost six months of takeover talks. Rio, which already owned a 51% stake, has been seeking to add direct exposure to Turquoise Hill’s Oyu Tolgoi asset, expected to be the world’s fourth-largest copper mine once an underground expansion is completed.
Rio said the final deal, which is subject to shareholder approval, represented a 67% premium on Turquoise Hill’s share price before Rio’s first offer on March 11.
“This agreement represents another significant step following the recent commencement of the underground operations, and will simplify governance, improve efficiency and create greater certainty of funding for the long-term success of the Oyu Tolgoi project,” Rio’s Chief Executive Officer Jakob Stausholm said in a statement.
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