By Alex MacDonald
LONDON--Steel titan ArcelorMittal (MT) said Friday that it
completed the first installment of a 15% stake sale in its
ArcelorMittal Mines Canada joint venture.
ArcelorMittal agreed to sell the total stake in AMMC to a
consortium led by South Korean steelmaker Posco (005490.SE,PKX) and
China Steel Corp. in January for $1.1 billion.
On Friday, ArcelorMittal said it had sold an 11.05% stake in the
joint venture to the consortium for $810 million.
The remaining 3.95% stake sale will be completed in the second
quarter of 2013, the company added.
As part of the sale, the AMMC joint venture has entered into
off-take agreements with POSCO and CSC proportionate to the
consortium's interest in the joint venture.
ArcelorMittal is currently completing a $1.4 billion expansion
of AMMC to 24 million metric tons of iron ore output a year from 16
million tons. The expansion is due to be completed in the first
half of this year.
ArcelorMittal's Chief Executive Lakshmi Mittal, speaking at an
investor day presentation Friday, declined to comment on whether
ArcelorMittal would be interested in purchasing Rio Tinto PLC's
(RIO) 59% stake in Iron Ore of Canada Co., which Liberum has valued
at $3.4 billion based on ArcelorMittal's 15% stake sale of
AMMC.
Write to Alex MacDonald at alex.macdonald@dowjones.com
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