Rio Tinto faces renewed calls to abandon primary London listing
Pallister Capital has renewed its calls for Rio Tinto to abandon its primary London listing, arguing its corporate structure had cost shareholders $50bn (£39.4bn) in value.
In a letter to the board, reported by the Financial Times, Palliser Capital said Rio Tinto’s dual listing in London and Sydney had been an “unmitigated failure”.
The activist investor argued that Rio Tinto’s corporate structure was a barrier to making acquisitions and ensured its shares traded at a substantial discount to peers in Australia.
The UK-based hedge fund demanded an independent review into whether Rio should follow BHP’s example. BHP left the the FTSE 100 in 2021 in favour of Australia.
Blackwattle Investment Partners, an Australian investment firm, has also highlighted the valuation gap between Rio and its Australian listed rivals, according to the Financial Times.
The gap has widened to 19 per cent from 15 per cent back in May, the firm argued.
Palliser Capital only holds around one per cent of Rio’s shares, but this makes it one of its largest holdings. It first called on Rio to ditch London in May.
The FTSE 100 miner has previously said that unifying its listing would cost “mid-single digit billions of dollars”, suggesting such a move would destroy value.
The letter comes ahead of Rio’s investor seminar in London. In a statement ahead of the event, Rio said it hopes to deliver a “period of sustained growth” until 2033, with a compound annual growth rate of around three per cent.
“We have all the building blocks we need to become a global leader in energy transition materials, and we have a clear plan for a decade of profitable growth,” Jakob Stausholm, chief executive said.