Rio Tinto is selling its packaging businesses in the US for $1.2 billion (£739 million), in an attempt to raise cash and cut its debt.

The cash-strapped Anglo-Australian miner said in a statement today that it was selling the businesses to America's Bemis.

The businesses, collectively called Food Americas, are spread across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and New Zealand. The assets were among those acquired by Rio when it bought aluminium and packaging giant Alcan in 2007. Bought near the height of the commodities boom, Alcan left Rio with $38 billion in debt.

Rio had planned to cut its debt by swiftly selling some of Alcan's divisions, but was hampered by the onset of the global financial crisis, which led to a collapse in asset prices.

"The sale of the Food Americas division is the first significant step in reducing the asset portfolio acquired with Alcan," Rio Chief Financial Officer Guy Elliott said in a statement today.

Rio said the remaining Alcan non-aluminium assets were still on the auction block, with their book value likely to be written down ahead of their sale. So far this year, Rio has announced a total $3.7 billion in asset sales.

Last week the miner raised $15.2 billion in one of the world's largest-ever rights issues.

Rio opted for a right issue after aborting a controversial plan to sell $19.5 billion in convertible debt and assets to a major shareholder, Chinese state-owned Chinalco.

At the same time as abandoning the Chinalco deal, it announced a $116 billion iron ore joint venture with BHP Billiton which would deliver both firms $10 billion in savings.

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