Rio Tinto completes $2 billion sale of Alcan divisions to Amcor

Published Tuesday, February 02, 2010

By AP

An almost US $2 billion deal for Australian packaging company Amcor to buy a big chunk of Rio Tinto's Alcan business has been completed, helping the global miner reduce its debt and marking a significant expansion for Amcor.

The companies made the announcement Tuesday.

The London-based mining giant announced in December it would accept Amcor's offer to buy Alcan Packaging's global pharmaceuticals, global tobacco and food divisions in Europe and Asia as part of plans to reduce debt by selling off assets that are not at the core of its business.

Rio Tinto has sold some $10.3 billion in assets since February 2008 to help pay off debts due mostly to its acquisition of Canadian aluminum giant Alcan for $38 billion in 2007.

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The page was last updated on: 10 January 2016 05:41