Reuters reported that BHP Billiton’s target Rio Tinto is likely to focus on trumpeting its prospects as an independent firm rather than revealing defense tactics as it gives its first detailed response on Monday to an all share takeover proposal from mining rival BHP Billiton. Mr Tom Albanese CEO of Rio Tinto will host the investor briefing in London on Monday, where he will put his reasons for turning down BHP's offer.

Analysts said that “Rio, which has said BHP's three for one share proposal vastly undervalues the firm, will likely showcase the strength of its own assets during Monday's presentation.”

An analyst was quoted as saying that “I think they are going to focus on their long term prospects, what the company is capable of doing on its own without BHP and probably say a lot of the synergies can be realized without merging.”

BHP has argued a combination of the two companies will lead to USD 3.7 billion in annual synergies after seven years through cost cutting and speeding up development of mines.

A major overlapping area is in iron ore, where both firms have operations in Australia's Pilbara region. BHP said a major source of synergies would be in iron ore, but Rio Tinto is likely to argue that its operations have more potential.

Rio is also likely to outline growth prospects for Canada's Alcan, which Rio recently bought for USD 38 billion to make it the world's largest producer of aluminum.