Mining giant Rio Tinto counters calls to abandon London for Australia

Rio Tinto has responded to calls for it to abandon its London listing in favour of Australia, stating that the claims made by an activist investor are both "unfounded and misleading."

The mining behemoth maintains a dual-listing in London and Sydney, but has been under pressure from investors to shift towards an Australian-domiciled holding company, as reported by City AM.

Palliser Capital, backed by influential proxy advisers Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), has proposed a motion for Rio Tinto to establish a committee of independent directors to assess whether unification is in shareholders' best interest.

However, in a statement released on Wednesday, the mining company encouraged shareholders to vote against the proposals, arguing they would be "value destructive" for the group and its shareholders.

In a positive development for London markets, Rio Tinto dismissed investors' claims that its dual structure had led to a depreciation of around $50bn (£38.5bn) off its value as "unfounded and misleading."

"The rationale for unifying dual-listed companies (DLC) structures at other companies (including BHP) does not apply to Rio Tinto for several reasons, including the location, growth outlook and tax profile of the group's assets, and the scale of the entity to be absorbed by the acquiring entity in any DLC unification," it stated.

The miner further noted that it had already undertaken a "comprehensive review" of a unification, "the conclusions of which are clear."