Rio Tinto Completes Sale of Interest in Bengalla Joint Venture

Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) has completed the sale of its 40 percent interest in its Bengalla coal joint venture for US$616.7 million to New Hope Corporation.
As quoted in the press release:

Rio Tinto has now announced or completed US$4.7 billion² of divestments since January 2013.
A change to the ownership structure of Coal & Allied completed on 3 February 2016 helped enable this transaction. Rio Tinto as a 100 per cent owner of Coal & Allied:

• receives all consideration associated with the sale of Rio Tinto’s interest in the Bengalla Joint Venture;
• holds a 67.6 per cent interest with management rights in the Hunter Valley Operations mine;
• holds interests of 80 per cent and 55.6 per cent respectively, with management rights, in the integrated Mount Thorley and Warkworth operations; and
• currently holds 100 per cent interest in the Mount Pleasant project. On 27 January Rio Tinto announced it had reached a binding agreement for the sale of Mount Pleasant to MACH Energy Australia for US$224 million plus royalties. The sale is expected to close in the second half of 2016.

Click here for the full press release.