According to Mr Sergei Vybornov president of Russian diamond miner Alrosa, Foreign companies are expressing an interest in the Alrosa Investment Group's iron ore assets.
Mr Vybornov told reporters that "They include a global player, which was unable to pull off a merger last year and a Chinese steel producer.”
Earlier reports said that Alrosa was looking for a strategic investor for these fields but planned to keep control of them.
Alrosa acquired four iron ore deposits Tayezhnoye, Desovskoye, Tarynnakh and Gorkitskoye in Yakutia in the spring of last year. It could cost RUR 180 billion to build a metallurgical complex at the fields.
BHP Billiton tried but failed to complete a merger with Rio Tinto Group last year. Chinese companies are not known for their interest in Yakutia, but South Korea's LG International has stated a firm interest mainly in coal projects in southern Yakutia and is also looking at iron ore and uranium projects.
Mr Vybornov said that Alrosa had found a buyer for its two hydrocarbons fields in Yakutia and that the sale could go through by the end of the year. Alrosa owns CJSC Irelyakhneft and a controlling stake in OJSC Sakhaneftegaz, where a court appointed a supervisor at the end of last year. Vybornov has said that Alrosa expected to earn USD 600 million to USD 700 million from the sale of these assets.
He said that Alrosa might divest its stake in KIT Finance by the end of this year and sell it to Russian Railways.
Alrosa Investment Group owns 45% of KIT Finance Holding Company, which owns more than 96% of the KIT Finance bank and which plans to consolidate 100%. RZD already owns 45% of the holding company.
Source: Steel Guru/Interfax
No comments:
Post a Comment