No-one is commenting, because no-one knew until now. Thanks, hippies for the heads up. Here is the article in full:
Rio Tinto Unit Seeks Buyers for Ivanhoe Australia Stake
By CYNTHIA KOONS And DAVID WINNING
Rio Tinto PLC's Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. TRQ.T -1.68% unit is seeking buyers for its 57% stake in Australian copper and gold producer Ivanhoe Australia, IVA.AU +2.44% people familiar with the matter said, as the mining giant accelerates its divestment program under the stewardship of its new chief executive.
Citigroup C +2.67% has been appointed to run the sale process of the stake in Ivanhoe Australia Ld., the people said. Citigroup is also running Turquoise Hill's sale of its 58% stake in SouthGobi, a Mongolian coal mine developer, the people said, but that process has been delayed until further notice.
Ivanhoe Australia's most recent market value is 148.7 million Australian dollars (US$156.5 million). The company was worth as much as A$1.5 billion in early 2011, but the declining value of commodities prices has weighed heavily on the stock.
Ivanhoe Australia has copper and gold operations as well as a pipeline of development projects. The sale of a majority stake in Ivanhoe Australia could trigger a full takeover of the company. Corporate law in Australia dictates that in most instances, once a buyer reaches the 20% threshold of ownership in a company, it must launch a full takeover offer.
SouthGobi is sitting on potentially 800 million metric tons of coal resources, but has been at the center of a political battle in Mongolia. Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd., commonly known as Chalco, bid to buy Turquoise Hill's majority stake in SouthGobi for $920 million last year but the offer failed because of political opposition in Mongolia and the economic slowdown in China.
A representative for SouthGobi didn't have a comment on the matter and a representative from Ivanhoe Australia didn't return calls for comment. Turquoise Hill declined to comment. ____________
PS hippies, providing a link is just a cut and paste. However, we may not be able to read it from your trading platform.
Re Rio selling out of IVA, it really will be the best thing for IVA- more insto's might come on to the share registry, and it will add liquidity. They can only take 19.9% each, or someone might like to take the company over by grabbing the lot.
IVA Price at posting:
21.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
