Indian Group Bids $2.6 Billion for Asarco
U.S. copper producer finds escape from bankruptcy
U.S. copper producer finds escape from bankruptcy
Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. has bid $2.6 billion for Tucson-based Asarco L.L.C., wresting the copper group away from rival Grupo Mexico in a bankruptcy auction. Grupo Mexico owns the Asarco but does not control its board of directors, and critics of Grupo Mexico contend it steered the holding into Chapter 11 as a way to gain control of the assets.
“We are delighted to have reached agreement on this important acquisition, which is a significant milestone for our group,” stated Anil Agarwal, Sterlite chairman. “This is in line with our stated strategy of leveraging our established skills.”
Sterlite will finance the purchase of Asarco with a cash and debt mixture, but a bankruptcy court must clear the sale.
Asarco, the onetime American Smelting and Refining Co. is the third-largest domestic copper organization. Its assets include three open-pit copper mines and a copper smelter in Arizona, and a copper refinery, rod and cake plant, and precious metals refinery in Texas. Asarco refined 235,000 metric tons of copper in 2007, and its mines are estimated to have reserves of 5 million metric tons of copper.
Sterlite is a subsidiary of a British melting and mining company, Vedanta Resources plc. Sterlite already owns copper minis in Tasmania (Australia) and integrated producer Konkola Copper Mines PLC, in Zambia.
“We are extremely pleased with this agreement,” stated Asarco’s president and CEO Joseph F. Lapinsky. “Reaching this agreement with a world class mining company is a giant step forward in our quest to successfully emerge from Chapter 11,” he said. “The sale will achieve the overall best value for Asarco, its employees, creditors and the local communities in which we operate.”
“We are delighted to have reached agreement on this important acquisition, which is a significant milestone for our group,” stated Anil Agarwal, Sterlite chairman. “This is in line with our stated strategy of leveraging our established skills.”
Sterlite will finance the purchase of Asarco with a cash and debt mixture, but a bankruptcy court must clear the sale.
Asarco, the onetime American Smelting and Refining Co. is the third-largest domestic copper organization. Its assets include three open-pit copper mines and a copper smelter in Arizona, and a copper refinery, rod and cake plant, and precious metals refinery in Texas. Asarco refined 235,000 metric tons of copper in 2007, and its mines are estimated to have reserves of 5 million metric tons of copper.
Sterlite is a subsidiary of a British melting and mining company, Vedanta Resources plc. Sterlite already owns copper minis in Tasmania (Australia) and integrated producer Konkola Copper Mines PLC, in Zambia.
“We are extremely pleased with this agreement,” stated Asarco’s president and CEO Joseph F. Lapinsky. “Reaching this agreement with a world class mining company is a giant step forward in our quest to successfully emerge from Chapter 11,” he said. “The sale will achieve the overall best value for Asarco, its employees, creditors and the local communities in which we operate.”
