Rio Tinto selling talc unit for $340m

23rd Feb 2011 07:33

Miner Rio Tinto has agreed to sell its talc business to Imerys for an enterprise value of US$340m (£210m), a year after it put the unit back on the market.French industrial minerals company Imerys has put forward a binding agreement and a period of exclusivity has been agreed.Rio, which has sold assets worth over $11bn since 2008, will respond following consultation with the relevant European works councils."The successful sale of our global talc business would deliver good value to our shareholders and remains aligned with our strategic focus on large scale assets," chief financial officer Guy Elliott said Wednesday.The talc business employs 1,000 people at 24 locations around the world, supplying the powder found in animal feed and used to whiten paper and colour paint. Rio put the For Sale sign up in 2008, but took it down again during the financial crisis. It started touting the business again last March, but said it was in no rush, preferring to get the right price.