Rio Seeks Improved China Relations, Explores Chinalco Ventures

Rio Tinto Group said it¡¯s seeking a better relationship with China, the mining company¡¯s largest customer, and is in talks with Aluminum Corp. of China after four executives were arrested in a spying row.

Chief Executive Officer Tom Albanese said he¡¯s ¡°disappointed¡± Rio didn¡¯t complete a proposed investment by state-owned Aluminum Corp., also known as Chinalco, in June. He¡¯s held ¡°early stage¡± talks with the company and Chinese officials about cooperation and possible joint investments, he said yesterday in an interview on Bloomberg Radio.

¡°Those relationships are very important. Certainly from a Chinalco perspective, in the long term I think there are things we can do together,¡± Albanese said. ¡°We have a number of challenges in China at the moment.¡±

Albanese has grappled with borrowings that ballooned after Rio¡¯s $38.1 billion purchase of Canadian aluminum producer Alcan Inc. in 2007. He rejected Chinalco¡¯s proposed $19.5 billion deal in June, instead selling shares and agreeing to a joint venture with rival BHP Billiton Ltd. to help pay debt. A month later, four Rio iron ore executives were detained in Shanghai. They face charges of bribery and stealing commercial secrets from China¡¯s steel industry.

China accounted for 27 percent of Rio¡¯s sales in the first half, Rio said yesterday in its first-half earnings statement. China ranked third behind North America and Europe a year earlier. So-called underlying earnings excluding some one-time items fell 54 percent to $2.6 billion, missing the $2.73 billion median estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Copyright and Exemption Declaration :¢ÙAll articles, pictures and videos that are marked with "China Aluminum Network" on this website are copyright and belong to China Aluminium Network (www.alu.com.cn). When transshipment, any media, website or individual must list the source from "China Aluminium Network (www.alu.com.cn)". We seek legal actions against anyone that disobey this. ¢ÚArticles that marked as copy from others are for transferring more information to readers, do not represent or endorse their opinions or accuracy and reliability. When other media, website or individuals copy from our website, must keep the source. Anyone that changes the articles' sources will hold the responsibilities for copyright and law problems. We also seek legal actions against anyone that disobey this. ¢ÛIf any articles copied by our website concern the copyright and other problems, please contact us within one week.