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Rio Tinto PLC said Monday that it has made a nonbinding proposal to acquire the remaining 49% shareholding in Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd., the holding company of the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project in Mongolia.
The mining group said the offer is for 34 Canadian dollars (US$26.68) in cash a Turquoise Hill
TRQ,
TRQ,
share, representing a 32% premium to the latest closing price and valuing the Turquoise Hill minority share capital at around $2.7 billion.
Rio Tinto
RIO,
said the offer follows the recent agreement reached with Turquoise Hill and the government of Mongolia to progress the development of Oyu Tolgoi and start underground operations.
“The proposed transaction would enable Rio Tinto to work directly with the government of Mongolia to move the Oyu Tolgoi project forward with a simpler and more efficient ownership and governance structure,” Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm said.
Turquoise Hill owns 66% of Oyu Tolgoi, with the remaining 34% held by a Mongolian state-owned entity.
Write to Jaime Llinares Taboada at jaime.llinares@wsj.com; @JaimeLlinaresT
