Transaction in Own Shares
Further to the announcement on 10 February 2011 regarding the Rio Tinto Group's capital management programme, Rio Tinto Limited today acquired 400,000 of Rio Tinto plc's ordinary shares at an average price of 4,306.90 pence per ordinary share.
Rio Tinto plc subsequently purchased those shares from Rio Tinto Limited off-market as part of internal capital management for an aggregate consideration of £5, pursuant to the share purchase approval granted by Rio Tinto plc shareholders at the 2010 Rio Tinto plc Annual General Meeting. The shares purchased will be held by Rio Tinto plc as treasury shares.
It is immaterial to the shareholders of either Rio Tinto plc or Rio Tinto Limited if Rio Tinto Limited or any of its subsidiaries make a gain or a loss on such transactions as they have no effect on the Rio Tinto Group's overall resources. The underlying purpose of this series of transactions is to facilitate the Rio Tinto Group's ongoing capital management programme and Rio Tinto considers that the transactions will not constrain its ability to maintain its progressive dividend policy and will not affect Rio Tinto Limited's capacity to fully frank its dividends.
Following the above purchase, Rio Tinto plc holds 5,814,032 ordinary shares as
treasury shares. The total number of ordinary shares in issue (excluding shares
held as treasury shares) is 1,523,189,839
For further information, please contact:
Investor Relations
Mark Shannon
Office: +44 (0) 20 7781 1178
Mobile: +44 (0) 7917 576597
Secretarial Department
Matthew Whyte
Office: +44 (0) 20 7781 1629
This information is provided by RNS