Monday, November 23, 2009

Baosteel Celebrates Aquila Stake

A hand over ceremony between Baosteel and Australian Aquila Resources took place in Beijing Monday morning. According to the agreement, Baosteel will take a 15 percent stake in Aquila.

China's biggest steelmaker, Baosteel, was given the green light by the governments of both countries to acquire up to a 19.99 percent stake in coking coal and iron ore company Aquila Resources. The acquisition cost 286 million Australian dollars in new shares.

Luo Bingsheng, Deputy Director China Iron & Steel Association, said, "We think it should be based on the enterprise's behavior. Enterprises did this based on their requirements. We should support their work. There is one thing we want to stress, for China, the imported iron ore price must implement the unified price. The iron ore price should strictly adhere to the standard and requirement reached by Baosteel and the three largest mining companies. "

Aquila is a comprehensive mining corporation in west Australia. Its operation consists of iron ore, coal and manganese. The annual future production volume of iron ore is expected to reach 20 million tons, 6 million tons of coal and 1 million tons of manganese.

Xu Lejiang, Chairman BaoSteel Group, said, "This is not only good for Baosteel, but it also avoids risks, and creates a win-win situation for both sides pursuing long-term returns."

Dai Zhihao, the vice president of Baosteel Group will join Aquila's board. It is the Foreign Investment Review Board's fourth approval of a Chinese investment in the mining sector in the past three weeks.

Source: CCTV (video also available)

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