Chinalco investing US$19bn in Rio Tinto
13-02-2009
China's state-owned aluminium producer, Chinalco, says it will invest US$19.5-billion in the debt-laden mining group Rio Tinto. It will be the biggest foreign investment ever made by a Chinese company. The deal would double Chinalco's share in the Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto Group to eighteen percent. The agreement between the two companies was announced as Rio said its annual earnings were down 50 percent. The group is also under pressure to pay back some of its US$38-billion debt later this year.
