Rio Tinto has increased its stake in Canadian-company Ivanhoe Mines to 34.9%.
Rio Tinto has increased its stake in Canadian-company Ivanhoe Mines to 34.9%.
The company this morning confirmed it acquired 40,083,206 common shares, increasing its total ownership by 5.3% to 184,747,856 shares.
The acquisition was made in accordance with the terms of a US$350 million credit facility made available in 2007, which matured today.
Combined with interest, the facility was worth more than US$400 million, which was automatically converted into shares upon maturity at a price of US$10 per share.
According to the company, if it was to exercise all of its share purchase warrants, it would own more than 267 million shares or around 44% of Ivanhoe.
Rio has the right to exercise its remaining share purchase warrants at any time.
