Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) PLC is facing pressure from activist investor Palliser Capital to follow its rival BHP (ASX:BHP) in giving up London as its primary listing and drop out of the FTSE 100.
Following up on demands it first made earlier this year, the UK hedge fund has written a letter to the board calling for the company to abandon its primary London listing.
The Financial Times reported that the letter is pushing for dual-listed Rio to commission an independent review to examine a unified corporate structure in Australia, as it has been an "unmitigated failure" that has deprived shareholders of $50 billion in value.
The UK hedge fund, which holds a $250 million stake, is led by chief investment officer James Smith, formerly of activist Elliott Management at the time when it successfully corralled BHP to move to a single Aussie listing, which was completed in 2022.
Rio has put out three RNS releases this morning, one of which is to flag its investor seminar in London, where it will provide "updates on its strategy of investing for a stronger, more diversified and growing portfolio to ensure the long-term delivery of attractive shareholder returns".
CEO Jakob Stausholm said: "We have all the building blocks we need to become a global leader in energy transition materials, and we have a clear plan for a decade of profitable growth."
Rio also announced initial mineral resources and ore reserves for the Salar del Rincon lithium brine deposits in Argentina that it will develop, and that it and Sumitomo Metal Mining have signed a term sheet for a joint venture to deliver the Winu copper-gold project, located in the Great Sandy Desert region of Western Australia.