(Reuters) -The world’s biggest iron ore producer Rio Tinto will raise $9 billion in U.S. investment-grade bonds as it seeks to fund its recently-closed buyout of Arcadium Lithium, the miner said on Wednesday.
Rio is offering the fixed and floating rate debt in eight tranches with terms varying from two years to 40 years.
The Anglo-Australian mining giant last week completed its $6.7 billion acquisition of the U.S.-based Arcadium Lithium, as it looks to diversify away from iron ore towards critical minerals and battery metals such as lithium.
The miner intends to use proceeds from the bond offer for general corporate purposes, including repaying a bridge loan that it had incurred to fund its buyout of Arcadium.
The bond offer was reported by Bloomberg News late on Tuesday. Bloomberg News reported last week that Rio had dropped plans to raise as much as $5 billion in a share sale following pushback from investors.
(Reporting by Aaditya Govind Rao and Nichiket Sunil in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
