BHP Billiton bid 'ballparks away': Rio Tinto chief

SYDNEY: BHP Billiton's takeover offer for rival Rio Tinto was far away from a true valuation of the smaller company, Rio Tinto's chief executive said in an interview broadcast Sunday.


Tom Albanese, in Australia for a presentation to investors, told national television that BHP Billiton's bid to create a mining behemoth was too low to be accepted and that this view was supported by the market's response.


Rio Tinto has rejected BHP Billiton's proposal of three of its shares for every Rio Tinto share -- a proposal which values Rio at some 134 billion US dollars based on current share levels.


"We've seen the market move well past the BHP proposal, which we rejected, and the market to some extent is speaking," Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.


"It's basically saying that: 'Yes, we agree it's worth a lot more,'" he said.


Albanese would not put a figure on Rio Tinto's worth, but said it was "ballparks away" from the proposal put forward by BHP Billiton, the world's biggest diversified miner.

"I think I've referred to a couple of ballparks away," he said.

"I think this is all about value. The business of Rio Tinto has so much inherent value. I think it's just tremendous. I think that the proposal we received didn't recognise that value which is why we rejected it."

Last week Rio Tinto, the world's third-largest miner, said it was poised for exceptional growth and expected to triple its iron ore output to meet growing global demand for metals and minerals, particularly from China.