Rio Tinto completes Alcan sale

2nd Feb 2010 07:50

Miner Rio Tinto has completed the sale of its Alcan packaging business to Australian packaging firm Amcor for $1.95bn. The sale was announced last year as part of Rio's attempt to lower its debt burden following the £38.1m takeover of Canadian aluminium producer Alcan in 2007, which came ahead of the severe global economic downturn of the following year.'The completion of this complex transaction is another significant step in the recapitalisation of our balance sheet,' said Rio's chief financial officer Guy Elliott. 'Since the start of 2009 we have completed divestments of US$5.6 billion despite a difficult environment created by the global financial crisis. These proceeds, together with the proceeds from our successful rights issues and strong underlying cash flows, provide us with the flexibility to pursue value adding investment opportunities as they arise.'Rio accepted a $2.035bn offer for the Alcan packaging business from Amcor in December. The transaction announced today excludes the Alcan Packaging Medical Flexibles operations in the US, the sales of which is being reviewed by the US Department of Justice.