Rio Tinto to sell packaging assets to raise cash

SYDNEY: Global miner Rio Tinto agreed yesterday to sell its Americas food-packaging assets for $1.2 billion to packaging group Bemis Co Inc, raising yet more much-needed cash for the indebted miner.

Rio Tinto, which only last week raised $15.2 billion in one of the world's largest-ever rights issues, said it had sold the assets for $1 billion in cash with the rest potentially paid in the form of shares in US-listed Bemis.

"Any packaging assets that Rio is getting rid of its balance sheet is good and will be liked by the market," Olivia Ker, research analyst with Merrill Lynch, said after the news.