Apollo and GIC Offer to Buy Rio Tinto Energy Assets for About A$7 Billion
Key Facts
Rio Tinto has received indicative, non-binding offers from Apollo Global Management and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC to buy energy infrastructure assets in Australia and Canada, Newsquawk reported, citing AFR Street Talk. The assets on offer are valued at about A$7 billion, according to the same source. Specifying the currency puts the figure at its Australian-dollar value, not its U.S.-dollar value. The offers’ non-binding status means the proposals do not represent a final agreement to sell. The available coverage did not provide details of the assets or the terms of the offers.
The offers come as Rio Tinto said in its first-half results published in July 2026 that underlying operating profit rose 28% year on year to US$14.8 billion. Free cash flow was US$3.8 billion, up 75% from the comparable period. Chief Executive Simon Trott said the company was pursuing opportunities aimed at releasing about US$5 billion in cash by the end of 2026 through portfolio management, infrastructure and other mechanisms. The company has thus placed its cash-release target within a stated approach to managing its assets, while the available material does not specify a direct link between that target and the offers received. The sources also provide no terms or timeline for completing any potential deal.
The company’s results showed that higher energy prices due to supply disruptions reduced underlying operating profit by US$0.3 billion in the first half of 2026. By contrast, Trott said on 29 July that copper, aluminium and lithium together contributed more than half of underlying operating profit for the same period. These figures provide context for the company’s results and the contributions of its businesses, while the offers concern energy infrastructure assets. Rio Tinto did not say in the available material that the impact of energy prices was a reason for selling the assets. Nor did the material include a statement on the company’s response to the offers or its position on them.
At the latest available close before the news was published, Apollo shares were at US$112.83 on 23 October 2026, while Rio Tinto shares closed at US$83.42 on the same day. These prices show the closing levels of the two stocks on that date, without establishing a link between their movements and the offers. The available data did not provide a comparison with the previous close or measure the stocks’ performance after the news emerged. The figures therefore remain dated price context, not an indicator of the market’s response to the potential deal. The available sources included no comment from either company on the offers’ effect on trading.
On Australian economic data, the Australian Bureau of Statistics set 28 October 2026 as the release date for the September consumer price index. The release includes third-quarter data, correcting the date description in the previous draft. Annual trimmed mean inflation was 3.6% in the 12 months through August, unchanged from the 12 months through July. The new reading is scheduled for the date set by the bureau. The offers for Rio Tinto assets remain non-binding pending any further developments.