SYDNEY, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Australian mining giant Rio Tinto announced late Thursday that they will be undertaking a substantial share buy back following their sale of coal mining assets to Sino-Australian miner Yancoal.
The 3.2 billion-Australian dollar (2.5 billion U.S. dollars) buyback will be undertaken via a combination of an off-market tender of around 700 million Australian dollars (560 million dollars) worth of shares, with the balance remaining being added to their already ongoing buyback scheme.
The chief executive of Rio Tinto, Jean-Sebastien Jacques was pleased to be able to return value to investors following the sale to Yancoal, and said in a statement on Thursday that his company would continue to ensure shareholder returns.
Returning the 2.5 billion dollars "proceeds from our Coal & Allied divestment shows our continued commitment to delivering superior value and returning cash to our shareholders," Jacques said.
This year it has announced cash returns to shareholders of 8.2 billion dollars, comprising 4.2 billion dollars of dividends and 4.0 billion dollars of share buy-backs, he said, adding that "shareholder returns of this scale are made possible by maintaining the strongest balance sheet in the sector and a disciplined capital allocation process."
The off-market buyback is set to be completed at some point in 2017, while the on-market buyback will begin on Dec. 27. Enditem
A single purchase
