Rio Tinto Sets Sights on Sale of Mozambique Coal Unit

The Wall Street Journal reported that Rio Tinto plc (ASX:RIO,LSE:RIO,NYSE:RIO) is thinking of selling all or part of its Mozambique-based coal unit and is in the process of choosing a financial advisor to help it do so. The news follows Rio’s decision earlier this week not to sell its diamond unit.

As quoted in the market news:

Rio Tinto is seeking to bolster its balance sheet by divesting a range of noncore and poorly performing assets. Currently on the block are its aluminum assets, Canadian iron-ore and coal mine stakes and a copper-gold mine in Australia, among others.

If a minority-stake option is chosen, the buyer would share the project’s large capital-expenditure burden, one of the people said. If the entire coal unit is sold, it could fetch more than $700 million, another person said.

Click here to read the full report from The Wall Street Journal.