The world’s biggest iron ore producer Rio Tinto will raise $9bn in US investment-grade bonds as it seeks to fund its recently-closed buyout of Arcadium Lithium, said Reuters on Wednesday.
Citing a Rio Tinto announcement, Reuters said the miner was offering the fixed and floating rate debt in eight tranches with terms varying from two years to 40 years.
The Anglo-Australian mining giant last week completed its $6.7bn acquisition of the US-based Arcadium Lithium, as it looks to diversify away from iron ore towards critical minerals and battery metals such as lithium.
The miner intends to use proceeds from the bond offer for general corporate purposes, including repaying a bridge loan that it had incurred to fund its buyout of Arcadium, said Reuters.
Bloomberg News reported last week that Rio had dropped plans to raise as much as $5bn in a share sale following pushback from investors.
The…
