After BHP Billiton made another attempt at bidding for Rio Tinto, increasing its offer to 3.4 BHP shares for one Rio Tinto share, the Boards of Rio Tinto yet declined the offer. The Board’s dissatisfaction continue to remain the same as in the past; Rio Tinto has been undervalued in all BHP Billiton’s pre-conditional offers. The Board also clarified that its decision was to protect he interest of its shareholders.
According to Rio Tinto’s Chairman, Paul Skinner said: “BHP Billiton’s offers, while improved, still fail to recognise the underlying value of Rio Tinto’s quality assets and prospects. Our plans are unchanged, and will remain so unless a proposal is made that fully reflects the value of Rio Tinto. Accordingly we are forging ahead with our strategy of operating and developing large scale, long life, low cost assets to generate significant value for shareholders”.
Rio Tinto’s chief executive officer Tom Albanese said that the company has significant stand alone growth opportunities, particularly in iron ore, copper and aluminium. With its assets and its market goodwill of value delivery, project execution and successful exploration makes Rio Tinto is geared to maximise value for its shareholders.”