Chinalco to hike Rio Tinto stake

Aluminum Corp of China (Chinalco) has proposed injecting $19.5 billion into London-based Rio Tinto Ltd, one of the largest mining corporations in the world.

If approved by shareholders and relevant governments, the proposed deal would be the largest overseas investment by a Chinese company in history.

Chinalco proposed to buy $7.2 billion of convertible bonds from Rio and stakes in iron ore, copper and aluminum projects for $12.3 billion, the company said yesterday in a press release. The proposal would result in the State-owned company's stake in Rio increasing to 18 percent from the current 9.3 percent.