Rio sells Alcan unit for $1.2 billion

Mining giant Rio Tinto has sold part of its Alcan packaging unit to US packaging producer Bemis for $1.2 billion.  UK-based Rio, the worldÔÇÖs third-largest mining company, sold the Food Americas division of its packaging arm for $1 billion in cash, plus an extra $200 million for stock. The sale is the latest in a series for Rio, which has been offloading assets and stock since its debt soared to $38.7 billion when it purchased Canadian aluminum group Alcan in 2007. The move comes after the firm raised $15.2 billion in a recent rights issue.  "The sale of the Food Americas division is the first significant step in reducing the asset portfolio acquired with Alcan," said Guy Elliott, Rio TintoÔÇÖs chief financial officer, in a statement.┬á "The transaction represents solid value given the challenging financial environment. We believe this is a positive outcome for Food Americas as it is a good fit with Bemis's business and stands to benefit from an excellent platform for growth and development in the regional food sectors in the Americas." Wisconsin-based Bemis has 17 percent of the flexible packaging market in the US. It employs 16,000 people in 11 countries and posted sales of $3.8 billion last year. Rio continues to seek buyers for the remainder of the Alcan packaging business and its engineering unit. Chicago-based Food Americas has 4,300 employees and 23 packaging plants in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and New Zealand. It generated $1.5 billion in revenues last year. *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *