Thursday , September 21 2023

Rio Tinto’s share buy-back balloons

Rio Tinto has committed an additional $2.5 billion to its ongoing share buy-back programme, returning the proceeds of the sale of Coal & Allied to its shareholders.

The capital return programme will be executed through a combination of an off-market buy-back tender, targeting A$700 million (approximately $560 million) of Rio Tinto Limited shares.

The balance of approximately $1.9 billion of additional funds will be allocated to Rio Tinto’s existing on-market purchases of Rio Tinto plc shares..

Rio Tinto’s share buy-backs for  2017 has reached $4 billion, including $2.5 billion in September and the $500 million and $1 billion on-market share buy-back programmes of Rio Tinto plc shares, announced on in February and August.

“Returning the $2.5 billion proceeds from our Coal & Allied divestment shows our continued commitment to delivering superior value and returning cash to our shareholders.

This year we have announced cash returns to shareholders of $8.2 billion, comprising $4.2 billion of dividends and $4 billion of share buy-backs,” said Rio Tinto Chief Executive Office Jean-Sébastien Jacques said.

Jacques said shareholder returns of this scale are made possible by maintaining the strongest balance sheet in the sector and a disciplined capital allocation process.

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