Anglo offloads niobium, phosphates assets to Chinese firm in $1.5bn deal
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Dual-listed Anglo American has sold its Brazil-based niobium and phosphates assets to Hong Kong- and Shanghai-listed China Molybdenum for $1.5-billion.
The deal was expected to close in the second half of this year and would result in the transfer of Anglo’s phosphates business, in São Paulo, which comprised the Chapadão mine, the Ouvidor beneficiation plant, the Catalão and Cubatão chemical complexes and the Coqueiros and Morro Preto mineral deposits, to China Molybdenum.
The niobium business, in Goiás state, included the Boa Vista mine and three processing facilities, namely the Boa Vista metallurgical plant, the Boa Vista Fresh Rock plant and the tailings plant, the nonoperating Mina I and Mina II mines, two further mineral deposits, the Area Leste and Morro do Padre deposits, and the sales and marketing operations in the UK and Singapore.
“The sale of our niobium and phosphates businesses is another positive step forward in the strategic reshaping of Anglo that we set out in February,” said CEO Mark Cutifani on Thursday.
The group was targeting between $3-billion and $4-billion in disposal proceeds for this year, as it continued to shed noncore assets and reduce complexity.
“The proceeds from this transaction, together with the ongoing [$1.9-billion in] productivity and cost improvements we are driving through the business, will enable us to continue to reduce our net debt towards our targeted level of less than $10-billion at the end of 2016,” he added.
The deal remained subject to customary People's Republic of China regulatory approvals and the approval of China Molybdenum shareholders, with the total consideration payable to Anglo at closing, subject to certain closing and post-closing adjustments.
Cutifani said it had received binding commitments from two major China Molybdenum shareholders, together holding 63%, to support the deal.
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