riversdale stand off, page-13

IMO Rio's bid extension by 2 weeks is just giving steel makers extra time to increase their Riv holdings.

If Rio lifts its offer by 1.1 billion it would give this T/O the boost it needs to take it over the line and provide fair value to share holders (just).

Stop treating this as a fire sale of Riv assets Rio and get a realistic offer on the table. Im not selling at bargain basement prices, am holding for the moment.

Excerpt from Reuters article - full link below

Two key headwinds face the miners, a slow recovery of Australian coal production, after devastating floods shut mines and knocked out export rail lines in Queensland, and rising operating and project costs as labour and energy prices rocket.

But soaring coal prices are expected to more than offset the impact of lower production.

Burned by its top-of-the-market takeover of Alcan in 2007, Rio Tinto has said it is only looking for acquisitions worth less than about $5 billion.

It is chasing Mozambique-focused coal miner Riversdale Mining with a $3.9 billion bid, and extended the offer to March 4 on Thursday as it has yet to win support from Riversdale's two biggest shareholders, India's Tata Steel and Brazil's CSN .

It is under pressure to possibly raise its offer after CSN increased its stake this week to 19.9 percent, just below the threshold for making a full takeover offer.


Link to full article

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/02/10/riotinto-idUKL3E7D90K820110210?pageNumber=2