Rio Tinto sells off remaining new shares

Underwriters for Rio Tinto Ltd's Australian market capital raising have found buyers for all of the shares that remained unsold from the offer, the company has said.

The world's third-largest mining company on Friday announced it had received acceptances for 94.76 per cent of new shares offered under a 21-for-40 rights offer at $28.29 a piece.

Some 7.86 million shares remained and were offloaded later on Friday by the underwriters at $48.50 each following a bookbuild.

"Rio Tinto confirms that Credit Suisse, JP Morgan and Macquarie have procured purchasers for the remaining 7,865,410 new Rio Tinto Ltd shares for which valid acceptances were not received," Rio Tinto said in a statement.

Company shareholders who did not exercise their entitlement to take part in the capital raising will be paid the net proceeds of $20.10 per share.

Rio Tinto's UK underwriters have already sold the last of the shares remaining from a similar rights issue in the UK completed on Thursday.

Credit Suisse and JP Morgan Cazenove found buyers for 15.88 million new shares in Rio Tinto's London Stock Exchange listed entity at 2,100 pence each.

When the UK issue closed on Thursday, Rio had placed 96.97 per cent of the new shares offered at 1,400 pence each.