By Alex MacDonald
LONDON--U.K.-listed Eurasian Natural Resources Corp PLC
(ENRC.LN) on Friday said it has agreed to acquire the remaining
stake it doesn't already own in mining company Camrose Resources
Ltd. and subsidiaries for $550 million in order to consolidate and
simplify its copper and cobalt assets in the Congo.
The Kazakhstan-focused miner, which expanded aggressively into
Africa amid some controversy for its initial investment in Camrose,
said it would buy out the remaining 49.5% stake it doesn't already
own in the Congolese mining company, subject to an ENRC shareholder
vote on the deal set for Dec 28.
ENRC bought a 50.5% stake in Camrose for $575 million in cash
and debt obligations in a 2010 deal that involved Israeli diamond
mogul Dan Gertler, a sizeable Camrose shareholder. Camrose
Resources owns indirect interests in five copper and cobalt
exploitation licenses in the Congo, including a majority stake in
the Kolwezi copper and cobalt tailings project, now called the Roan
Tailings and Reclamation or RTR Project.
At the beginning of the year ENRC paid $l.25 billion to buy out
Canada-based First Quantum Minerals Ltd.'s (FM.T) residual
Congolese assets and settle all lawsuits linked to the disputed
ownership rights over RTR.
The latest "transaction is an integral part of the corporate
governance and company structure optimisation which I set as a key
priority when I assumed chairmanship," said ENRC chairman Mehmet
Dalman in a statement.
The transaction will allow ENRC to produce 100,000 tons of
contained copper from the copper assets in the near term after
investing about $300 million in 2013. ENRC expects to produce
200,000 tons of copper annually from Africa over the next five
years, the chairman said.
ENRC expects the deal to close on Dec. 28 and said its board had
unanimously recommended the deal following fairness opinions from
investment banks Morgan Stanley (MS) and Lazard Ltd. (LAZ).
-Write to Alex MacDonald at alex.macdonald@dowjones.com
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