Riversdale Board Recommends Rio Tinto Takeover

Riversdale Mining's board of directors has all recommended the $3.8 billion takeover by Rio Tinto.

The coking coal miner's last director to agree to the proposal was Tata Steel’s representative NK Misra. His appointment to the Riversdale Mining board of directors was by virtue to the 24.2% stake that Tata Steel has in the company.

There had been speculation earlier that the stock holder Tata Steel would try to counter the Rio Tinto bid by one of its own. This had stemmed from the delayed response from the director on board of Riversdale Mining with respect to the takeover bid that Rio Tinto had put forth. NK Misra is also a vice president and group head of mergers and acquisitions at Tata Steel.

The Benga coal project in Mozambique which is a joint venture of Riversdale Mining is on target to start production in 2011 as per a company statement. They said that the first coal would be available for export from the port of Beira before 2011 ends. This project’s four billion tonnes of coking coal is seen as the main reason for Rio Tinto’s interest in the company.