Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm may have to change strategy as company enters new round of upheaval – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – June 8, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Extrovert or introvert, buyer or builder, opportunistic or judicious. These are the existential questions that Rio Tinto must answer for itself as the global mining industry enters a new round of upheaval, driven by the lunge for metals critical to a low-carbon future. Which way will Rio, a primarily iron ore and aluminum producer, go?

No one knows, and there are enormous risks in both playing the mergers and acquisitions game and avoiding it. Rio knows it needs more copper – it is ranked a lowly eighth in terms of production. At the same time, its reputation for capital discipline and conservative thinking might make it shy away from bidding wars and hostile deals, perhaps even big mergers and acquisitions of the friendly variety.

Note that Rio avoided pursuing copper-heavy Anglo American after BHP Group, in April, put Anglo into play. If there were one company with the heft to compete with BHP, the world’s biggest mining house, it would have been close-second Rio. The former, whose shares trade in Sydney, has a market value of US$150-billion. The latter, listed in London, is worth US$120-billion.

For the rest of this article: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-rio-tinto-ceo-jakob-stausholm-shies-away-from-big-bang-ma-to-bulk-up/