Rio Tinto completed an off-market share buyback, achieving its share purchase target of about 41.2 million shares, for total consideration of A$2.87 billion.
The shares, which will all be canceled, represent about 9.99% of the company's issued share capital, according to a Nov. 12 release. They were bought back at A$69.69 apiece, a discount of 14%.
The buyback program was announced in September as part of a US$3.2 billion program to return proceeds from the sale of coal assets to shareholders.
The company also announced details of the on-market portion of the share buyback, which will target a maximum of US$1.12 billion. It is set to begin Feb. 28, 2019, and be completed no later than Feb. 28, 2020.
