Rinehart’s Hancock weighs $3.3 billion iron ore mine project
Hancock acquired a 51% interest in the Mt Bevan project from Legacy Iron Ore Ltd. and Hawthorn Resources.
Glencore Xstrata and Blackstone may be close to bidding on Rio Tinto’s 59% stake in the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC), the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday evening.
Blackstone is considered by some more likely to go ahead with the purchase as Glencore has its hands full integrating Xstrata.
Rio put its stake in the Canadian company up for sale earlier in 2013. The company appointed investment banks Credit Suisse and CIBC to lead the sale of most of its shares in IOC.
Sale of the stake is estimated to fetch roughly $1.7 billion.
Rio Tinto CEO Sam Walsh pledged to shareholders in February of this year to cut costs by over $5 billion by the end of 2014 through divesting non-core assets.
Iron Ore Company of Canada shareholders
Sources: Seeking Alpha; Reuters; Iron Ore Company of Canada
