Palliser Capital Responds to Rio Tinto AGM Results, Reconfirming Its Commitment to Reduce Destruction of Shareholder Value
Palliser remains committed to ensuring that fairness and reason prevail – as with BHP – after demonstrating Rio Tinto's governance failings in the unification debate
LONDON, May 01, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Palliser Capital highlights that their campaign for a transparent and independent review of the unification of Rio Tinto's archaic dual listed company ("DLC") structure has served a critical purpose. It has promoted the need for better governance standards at Rio Tinto and catalyzed an improved understanding of the case for unification, despite the resolution failing to achieve sufficient shareholder support at Rio Tinto's 2025 AGM.
Palliser reaffirms their continued commitment, as a long-term shareholder, to working constructively with the Board to enhance sustainable value for all shareholders, with James Smith, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Palliser, stating:
"It is never easy for a small shareholder to take on the likes of a corporate giant like Rio Tinto.
However, we simply could not accept Rio Tinto's anomalous and illogical findings that unification offers no advantages whatsoever, when almost every other DLC in the world has unlocked multiple significant benefits through a simplified structure. We co-filed our resolution to advocate for a truly unbiased and open review of the merits of unification.
It is deeply disappointing that rather than adhering to "best practice" principles, the Board chose to launch a fierce campaign – involving a vast team of costly advisors and indefensible decisions such as initially disenfranchising the Australian line from voting – all to shield its closed door internal analysis of unification from scrutiny.
While they told shareholders a robust review would divert significant resources, they likely spent more time, money and effort opposing the resolution than complying with it.
Notwithstanding the voting results, the Board has been given a clear message from the most trusted voices in the investment community – ISS and Glass Lewis. They assessed the facts presented by Rio Tinto and Palliser with an independent lens and concluded that a reasonable board would not and should not resist an independent and transparent review on this critical matter.
We are grateful to the numerous investors we engaged with and who supported our arguments throughout this process, with some of the largest and most sophisticated investors in the world voting in favour of our resolution. We will continue to engage with Rio Tinto's shareholders and ensure that institutions are well informed of the pertinent issues, enabling them to actively challenge leadership rather than voting, as a default, in line with board recommendations.
Moreover, having shone a glaring light on their governance failings and unsubstantiated analysis, we expect to build on our work with a Board that is more willing to collaborate and listen, so that, together, we can achieve our shared goal of improving long-term shareholder value.
In this context, we note a similar experience at BHP, where initial flawed arguments to protect an almost identical DLC structure – much like those now presented by Rio Tinto – ultimately gave way to a highly successful unification."
About Palliser Capital
Palliser Capital is a global multi-strategy fund. Our value-oriented investment philosophy is applied to a broad range of opportunities across the capital structure with a focus on situations where positive change and value enhancement can be achieved through thoughtful, constructive and long-term engagement with companies and across a range of different stakeholder groups. All available materials on Palliser's ongoing engagement with Rio Tinto can be found at: UnifyRio.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250501014079/en/
Contacts
Media contact Guy McKannaSenior Consultante guy@honner.com.au m +61 (0) 430 355 985 t +612 8248 3740
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Shipbuilder quietly launches massive vessel with mission to reshape global travel: 'We're building the future'
Australian shipbuilder Incat has launched a first-of-its-kind electric ship that reaches over 420 feet in length and holds over 250 tons of batteries. This is a significant milestone in reducing the planet-harming pollution that comes from shipping and accounts for 2.9% of global pollution caused by humans. Stephen Casey, Incat's CEO, said at the unveiling of the ship, per Electrek: "We're not just building a ship — we're building the future." The vessel, dubbed the China Zorrilla, "proves that large-scale, low-emission transport solutions are not only possible, they are ready now." Electrek reported that the company built the vessel for the South American ferry operator Buquebus. The China Zorrilla will be able to carry 2,100 passengers and 225 vehicles. Buquebus makes transport for travelers from Buenos Aires to Uruguay multiple times a day, meaning this electric vessel will dramatically cut down the impact of traditional ship and air travel. The China Zorrilla comes at a time when vessels like megayachts are facing criticism for their unparalleled environmental impact. Megayachts can emit over 22,000 tons of harmful carbon pollution per year. Other forms of transport, like air travel, make up another 2.5% of global pollution. Meanwhile, cars account for about 10% of global pollution. Incat's new fully electric ship means that travelers who may have once opted for personal yachts, commercial flights, or traditional travel by car now have the option to travel internationally fully electric. The benefits of electric ships are many. One article revealed that it is the oil and fuel pollution from boats and ships that pollute our waterways with everyday oil leaks, refueling, and engine pollution. Pollution in our waterways leads to public health impacts, such as damage to our drinking water and food supply. When compared to electric ships, such issues are nearly nonexistent. "Electric boats do not require any fuel and very little oil, so they are far less likely to cause any harm to wildlife or water users, making them a great way to significantly reduce water pollution," according to Electric Boats. The ship "represents a giant leap forward in sustainable shipping," said Robert Clifford, Incat's chairman, per Electrek. To Incat, it's not just a step forward for the company — "but for the future of maritime transport." Would you buy an EV if it only took 5 minutes to charge? Sign me up No way Depends on the cost Depends how much range it has Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Boston Globe
12 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Can an American pope apply US-style fundraising and standards to fix troubled Vatican finances?
Leo already has one thing going for him: his American-ness. U.S. donors have long been the economic life support system of the Holy See, financing everything from papal charity projects abroad to restorations of St. Peter's Basilica at home. Leo's election as the first American pope has sent a jolt of excitement through U.S. Catholics, some of whom had soured on donating to the Vatican after years of unrelenting stories of mismanagement, corruption and scandal, according to interviews with top Catholic fundraisers, philanthropists and church management experts. Advertisement 'I think the election of an American is going to give greater confidence that any money given is going to be cared for by American principles, especially of stewardship and transparency,' said the Rev. Roger Landry, director of the Vatican's main missionary fundraising operation in the U.S., the Pontifical Mission Societies. Advertisement 'So there will be great hope that American generosity is first going to be appreciated and then secondly is going to be well handled,' he said. 'That hasn't always been the circumstance, especially lately.' Reforms and unfinished business Pope Francis was elected in 2013 on a mandate to reform the Vatican's opaque finances and made progress during his 12-year pontificate, mostly on the regulatory front. With help from the late Australian Cardinal George Pell, Francis created an economy ministry and council made up of clergy and lay experts to supervise Vatican finances, and he wrestled the Italian-dominated bureaucracy into conforming to international accounting and budgetary standards. He authorized a landmark, if deeply problematic, corruption trial over a botched London property investment that convicted a once-powerful Italian cardinal. And he punished the Vatican's Secretariat of State that had allowed the London deal to go through by stripping it of its ability to manage its own assets. But Francis left unfinished business and his overall record, at least according to some in the donor community, is less than positive. Critics cite Pell's frustrated reform efforts and the firing of the Holy See's first-ever auditor general, who says he was ousted because he had uncovered too much financial wrongdoing. Despite imposing years of belt-tightening and hiring freezes, Francis left the Vatican in somewhat dire financial straits: The main stopgap bucket of money that funds budgetary shortfalls, known as the Peter's Pence, is nearly exhausted, officials say. The 1 billion euro ($1.14 billion) pension fund shortfall that Pell warned about a decade ago remains unaddressed, though Francis had planned reforms. And the structural deficit continues, with the Holy See logging an 83.5 million euro ($95 million) deficit in 2023, according to its latest financial report. Advertisement As Francis' health worsened, there were signs that his efforts to reform the Vatican's medieval financial culture hadn't really stuck, either. The very same Secretariat of State that Francis had punished for losing tens of millions of euros in the scandalous London property deal somehow ended up heading up a new papal fundraising commission that was announced while Francis was in the hospital. According to its founding charter and statutes, the commission is led by the Secretariat of State's assessor, is composed entirely of Italian Vatican officials with no professional fundraising expertise and has no required external financial oversight. To some Vatican watchers, the commission smacks of the Italian-led Secretariat of State taking advantage of a sick pope to announce a new flow of unchecked donations into its coffers after its 600 million euro ($684 million) sovereign wealth fund was taken away and given to another office to manage as punishment for the London fiasco. 'There are no Americans on the commission. I think it would be good if there were representatives of Europe and Asia and Africa and the United States on the commission,' said Ward Fitzgerald, president of the U.S.-based Papal Foundation. It is made up of wealthy American Catholics that since 1990 has provided over $250 million (219 million euros) in grants and scholarships to the pope's global charitable initiatives. Advertisement Fitzgerald, who spent his career in real estate private equity, said American donors — especially the younger generation — expect transparency and accountability from recipients of their money, and know they can find non-Vatican Catholic charities that meet those expectations. 'We would expect transparency before we would start to solve the problem,' he said. That said, Fitzgerald said he hadn't seen any significant let-up in donor willingness to fund the Papal Foundation's project-specific donations during the Francis pontificate. Indeed, U.S. donations to the Vatican overall have remained more or less consistent even as other countries' offerings declined, with U.S. bishops and individual Catholics contributing more than any other country in the two main channels to donate to papal causes. A head for numbers and background fundraising Francis moved Prevost to take over the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014. Residents and fellow priests say he consistently rallied funds, food and other life-saving goods for the neediest — experience that suggests he knows well how to raise money when times are tight and how to spend wisely. He bolstered the local Caritas charity in Chiclayo, with parishes creating food banks that worked with local businesses to distribute donated food, said the Rev. Fidel Purisaca Vigil, a diocesan spokesperson. In 2019, Prevost inaugurated a shelter on the outskirts of Chiclayo, Villa San Vicente de Paul, to house desperate Venezuelan migrants who had fled their country's economic crisis. The migrants remember him still, not only for helping give them and their children shelter, but for bringing live chickens obtained from a donor. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Prevost launched a campaign to raise funds to build two oxygen plants to provide hard-hit residents with life-saving oxygen. In 2023, when massive rains flooded the region, he personally brought food to the flood-struck zone. Advertisement Within hours of his May 8 election, videos went viral on social media of Prevost, wearing rubber boots and standing in a flooded street, pitching a solidarity campaign, 'Peru Give a Hand,' to raise money for flood victims. The Rev. Jorge Millán, who lived with Prevost and eight other priests for nearly a decade in Chiclayo, said he had a 'mathematical' mentality and knew how to get the job done. Prevost would always be on the lookout for used cars to buy for use around the diocese, Millán said, noting that the bishop often had to drive long distances to reach all of his flock or get to Lima, the capital. Prevost liked to fix them up himself, and if he didn't know what to do, 'he'd look up solutions on YouTube and very often he'd find them,' Millán told The Associated Press. Before going to Peru, Prevost served two terms as prior general, or superior, of the global Augustinian order. While the order's local provinces are financially independent, Prevost was responsible for reviewing their balance sheets and oversaw the budgeting and investment strategy of the order's headquarters in Rome, said the Rev. Franz Klein, the order's Rome-based economist who worked with Prevost. The Augustinian campus sits on prime real estate just outside St. Peter's Square and supplements revenue by renting out its picturesque terrace to media organizations (including the AP) for major Vatican events, including the conclave that elected Leo pope. But even Prevost saw the need for better fundraising, especially to help out poorer provinces. Toward the end of his 12-year term and with his support, a committee proposed creation of a foundation, Augustinians in the World. At the end of 2023, it had 994,000 euros ($1.13 million) in assets and was helping fund self-sustaining projects across Africa, including a center to rehabilitate former child soldiers in Congo. Advertisement 'He has a very good interest and also a very good feeling for numbers,' Klein said. 'I have no worry about the finances of the Vatican in these years because he is very, very clever.'
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
Rio Tinto in bailout talks for Australian aluminium smelter, AFR reports
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Global miner Rio Tinto is in talks with Australian federal and state governments about a multibillion-dollar bailout for its struggling Tomago aluminium smelter in New South Wales state, the Australian Financial Review reported. The newspaper, citing sources it did not name, reported late on Friday that talks centred on the smelter's electricity contract for 2026 to 2029 and federal production tax credits. Rio and the offices of New South Wales Premier Chris Minns and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on the report. The future of the facility, majority owned by Rio, has been uncertain for months due in part to spiralling energy costs, according to the report. In February, Rio, the world's largest iron ore producer, said it would decide the smelter's future by mid-year. The facility about 125 km (80 miles) north of state capital Sydney uses around 10% of New South Wales' power supply to produce 590,000 tonnes of aluminium per year. In addition to Rio, it is owned by CSR and Hydro Aluminium. Australia's centre-left government in January pledged A$2 billion in production credits to help support the country's four aluminium smelters, including the Tomago facility, switch to renewable power before 2036. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
