Rio Tinto Limited’s (ASX:RIO, NYSE:RIO, LSE:RIO) all-cash $554 million bid for Canadian uranium explorer Hathor Exploration Limited (TSX:HAT) has been trumped by a sweetened offer from Canadian uranium producer Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ).
Rio offered $C4.15 per Hathor share in October, which at the time was an 11 per cent premium to Cameco’s August bid.
Cameco’s has now increased its bid to $C4.50 per per Hathor share, an 8.4 per cent premium over Rio’s bid.
Hathor controls one of the world's largest undeveloped uranium deposits in Western Canada and Cameco’s latest bid values the company at $603 million.
In the first half of the 2011 calendar year Rio Tinto booked a net profit of $7.5 billion.
