DBRS Assigns A (low) Rating to Rio Tinto New Debt Issue, Under Review-Negative

DBRS has today assigned a rating of A (low) to the Rio Tinto Finance (USA) Limited (Rio Tinto Finance (USA) or the Company) issue of $2.0 billion of five-year and $1.5 billion of ten-year bonds issued April 14, 2009; the ratings are Under Review with Negative Implications. The payment of principal and interest of the bonds issued by the Company are fully guaranteed by Rio Tinto plc & Rio Tinto Ltd.

DBRS’s ratings of Rio Tinto plc & Rio Tinto Ltd. and their subsidiaries (collectively, Rio) were placed Under Review with Negative Implications on November 26, 2008, following Rio’s withdrawal from the Billiton plc and BHP Billiton Ltd. offer. On February 12, 2009, the Under Review with Negative Implications status was maintained following the announcement that Rio had reached an agreement with Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco) on the sale of interests in certain Rio assets for $12.3 billion and that Chinalco would undertake an investment in Rio’s subordinated convertible bonds totaling $7.2 billon. Rio and Chinalco have indicated that initial completion of most elements of the transaction will occur prior to the end of July 2009.

The five-year notes issued by Rio Tinto Finance (USA) pay a coupon of 8.95% and will mature on May 1, 2014. The ten-year notes pay a coupon of 9.00% and will mature on May 1, 2019. Rio indicates that the $3.5 billion issue “is part of ‘business as usual’ capital management and the normal process of terming out existing debt facilities.” Rio faces the maturity in October 2009 of $8.9 billion of credit facilities related to the acquisition of Alcan Inc. and the maturity of $10.0 billion in October 2010.

DBRS’s policy is to place ratings Under Review with Negative Implications when a significant event is expected to occur that directly affects the credit quality of a particular entity or group of entities, but there is uncertainty regarding the outcome of the event and, therefore, DBRS is unable to provide an objective, forward-looking opinion in a timely fashion. A rating that is Under Review with Negative Implications remains outstanding; however, this status acts as a warning signal, indicating that the outstanding rating may no longer be appropriate. When a rating is placed Under Review with Negative Implications, DBRS views this as a temporary situation; therefore, DBRS strives to complete the review and remove the rating from this status as soon as it is appropriate to do so.

Notes:
All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

The ratings of Rio are based on public information.

The applicable methodology is Rating Mining, which can be found on our website under Methodologies.

This is a Corporate rating.