Riversdale says unaware of any competing offers

Thu Mar 10, 2011 6:05am GMT

Sydney, March 10 (Reuters) - Takeover target Riversdale Mining said it was not aware of any competing offers to a sweetened A$3.9 billion bid from global miner Rio Tinto

Earlier, Rio Tinto raised its offer for Africa-focused coal miner Riversdale in a final bid to woo key shareholders, a move that Riversdale said was helping to sway institutions.

(Reporting by Narayanan Somasundaram; Editing by Balazs Koranyi,sourced:Thomson Reuters)

Riversdale CEO sees growing institutional support for Rio Tinto offer

Thursday 10 March 2011, 10:17 AM

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Institutional shareholders in Riversdale Mining (ASX:RIV.AX) are moving toward backing global miner Rio Tinto's sweetened A$3.9 billion takeover offer for the Mozambique-focused coal miner, Riversdale's chief executive said on Thursday.

Rio Tinto raised its offer to A$16.50 a share on Thursday in a final bid to woo key shareholders who have held up the deal, and extended the offer for a third time, to April 1.

"I can say that from the institutional calls that I've made in the last few hours, that there's some growing support for Rio Tinto," Riversdale Chief Executive Steve Mallyon told Reuters.

(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Balazs Koranyi,sourced:Thomson Reuters)