Austin NZ, IVN may yet sell out to RIO! A previous agreement prevents RIO from acquiring any more than 49% of IVN before January 18th 2012. They are currently at 48.5%, they have 7 of 14 Board seats, and managerial control of the Oyu Tolgoi project. Not to mention they are providing $1.8Bn of interim financing to IVN. RIO is also currently flush with cash (having just retuned some to shareholders). They MUST be considering buying the whole lot. In addition, if you read Friedland's Diggers & Dealers presentation he was pushing hard IVN's low valuation compared to Barrick's offer for Equinox Minerals. This suggests to me that he is prepared to sell, albeit at the rigt price. Negotiatios MUST be under way. So coming back to IVA, I will ask my question again: will RIO dump IVA if they buy IVN? And is this the reason IVA's share price is struggling?
IVA Price at posting:
$1.58 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held