ArcelorMittal Completes 1st Part Of $1.1 Billion ArcelorMittal Mines Canada Stake Sale

   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 [e-mail]

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