Rio Tinto says 97% of London stock sold in $15.2 billion sale

Mining giant Rio Tinto has confirmed strong take-up from its shareholders in a sale of London-listed shares, in which 97 per cent were sold.  The company issued shares on both the London and Australian stock exchanges in a $15.2 billion sale to reduce debt. ┬á In London, existing investors were offered the right to buy 21 new shares for every 40 they currently hold. The company sold a total of 508.6 million shares in London yesterday, closing at ┬ú21.58 a share.┬á Last month Rio turned down a $19.5 billion investment proposal from Chinese state-owned Chinalco, its biggest shareholder, choosing instead to press ahead with a share sale and enter into a joint iron ore venture with BHP Billiton.┬á The deal with Chinalco would have pushed the Chinese companyÔÇÖs stake in Rio up to 18%. It is currently 9%.┬á Chinalco took up its full entitlement yesterday.┬á In 2007 Rio acquired $38 billion of debt when it took over Canadian aluminium group Alcan.┬á Results from the Australian share offering have yet to be announced. *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *