By James Regan
A marriage of the two mining giants would create the
world's third richest company, with a market capitalization
eclipsed only by Exxon Mobil
"The Rio Tinto shareholders will now decide," Kloppers said.
"This is our first and only offer," Kloppers told a media briefing, though he later would not say if that meant it was the final one.
The offer equates to a 45 percent premium to Rio's stock price in November before BHP first raised the idea of a union in a three-for-one share swap.
Shares in BHP fell 4.8 percent at A$37.75 on Wednesday, while Rio rose 1.3 percent to A$128.96.
Rio Tinto has long opposed BHP's overtures, arguing it was better off as an independent company, digging its own iron ore mines and churning out hundreds of thousands of tons of copper, zinc and aluminum.
Key customers for both companies, particularly steel mills in China and Japan, which buy hundreds of millions of tons of iron ore each year, have raised concerns about the potential dominance of a merged group.
BHP's task was made more complicated last week when
aluminum Corp of China (Chinalco) teamed with Alcoa Inc
The company earlier said it faced significantly higher input costs and unfavorable foreign exchange movements during the first half, although underlying earnings before interest and tax rose 5.4 percent to $9.6 billion.
BHP also lifted its interim dividend to 29 cents a share, up 45 percent year-on-year.
(Editing by Jonathan Standing)
