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Turquoise Hill delays shareholder vote on Rio Tinto plan to take company private

TORONTO — Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. is delaying a shareholder vote on Rio Tinto's plan to take the company private.
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In this Nov. 7, 2009, file photo, a crane hovers above the site of a new shaft under construction at the Oyu Tolgoi mine site in Khanbogd village, Umnugobi province, Mongolia. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Ganbat Namjilsangarav

TORONTO — Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. is delaying a shareholder vote on Rio Tinto's plan to take the company private.

The company says Rio Tinto asked for the postponement of the vote that was set to take place Wednesday at the request of the Quebec securities regulator. The shareholder meeting is now set for Nov. 15.

The delay comes as Rio Tinto is in talks with Turquoise Hill’s special committee of independent directors and the Autorité des marchés financiers with respect to dissent rights and procedures available to holders of minority shares.

Rio Tinto reached an agreement last week with a pair of shareholders that had opposed the company's plan to acquire the 49 per cent stake in Turquoise Hill that it does not already own for $43 per share.

Under the deal, Pentwater Capital Management LP and SailingStone Capital Partners LLC will withhold their votes on the plan and instead exercise their dissent rights under an arrangement which includes mediation and the possibility of binding arbitration.

Turquoise Hill owns a 66 per cent stake in the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia. Erdenes Oyu Tolgoi LLC, a Mongolian state-owned entity, holds the remaining 34 per cent interest.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2022.

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The Canadian Press