Deal street

Global miner Rio Tinto is talking to Australian-listed coal miner Riversdale about a higher $3.8-billion takeover bid, according to a media report, ahead of a possible bidding war for the African-focused target. Shares in Sydney-based Riversdale, which has previously confirmed it was talking to Rio, were placed in a trading halt on Tuesday ahead of an announcement about a takeover. Rio Tinto had formalized an offer to buy Riversdale for around A$16 per share, The Australian newspaper reported on its website. The offer, higher than A$15 per share previously on the table, would value Riversdale at $3.75 billion. The price is a 13.5% premium to Riversdale’s close on December 3, the company’s last trading price before news of Rio’s interest was announced. A Riversdale spokesman declined to comment. Rio Tinto was not immediately available to comment. A source familiar with the situation said talks with Rio Tinto continued but declined to comment on the media report. Investors said Rio Tinto may still have to look at a joint venture rather than a full takeover to get a deal past Riversdale’s major shareholders, which include India’s Tata Steel which owns about 24%, Brazilian steelmaker CSN and US Investment firm Passport Capital.

DSM to buy Martek for $1.09 bn

Dutch chemicals group said on Tuesday it would buy Martek Biosciences Corporation for $1.087 billion (829 million euros) in cash to specialize further in the niche food nutrition industry. DSM has been repositioning itself in recent years away

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