Rio Tinto Ltd
(ASX:RIO) has divested its holdings in US coal miner Cloud Peak Energy, returning over $576 million to the firm.
Rio says it sold 29.4 million shares through an over-allotment in connection with a secondary offering.
In the over allotment, underwriters exercised purchased 3.8 million additional shares of Cloud Peak Energy common stock for $US19.50 a share.
The secondary offering of 25.6 million shares and the over allotment closed on December 21.
For the half year ended 30 June 2010, Rio reported a net profit of $7.3 billion.
