Norwegian aluminum producer Norsk Hydro ASA has signed a US$4.9 billion deal to buy the majority of Brazilian mining company Vale SA’s aluminum operations, officials said on Sunday.
Oslo-based Norsk Hydro said it would pay US$1.1 billion in cash for the operations and give Vale shares in Norsk Hydro representing 22 percent of the company.
Considering the shares’ value on Friday, the total value of the deal is US$4.9 billion, it said.
Vale is the world’s largest producer of iron ore and has more than 100,000 employees around the world.
The deal will give Norsk Hydro control of 60 percent of the world’s No. 3 bauxite mine, Paragominas in Brazil. It also has the right to take over the remaining 40 percent stake in two installments, in 2013 and 2015, for US$200 million each.
Norsk Hydro will also take control of 91 percent of alumina refinery Alunorte, 51 percent of the Albras aluminum plant and 81 percent of the CAP alumina refinery project.
As part of the deal, about 3,600 Vale employees will be transferred to Norsk Hydro, which already employs about 19,000 people in 40 countries.
Norsk Hydro’s president and chief executive Svein Richard Brandtzaeg said the deal was the “biggest transaction in Hydro’s history.”
“The acquisition in Brazil will secure raw materials for more than 100 years of aluminum production,” Brandtzaeg said in a statement. “This gives the entire company greater strength, makes us more robust. At the same time, we will be transformed from a company with its center in Europe to a leading global aluminum concern, with production and market positions in the Americas, Australia, Europe and the Middle East.”
The company said it would finance the acquisition by launching a fully underwritten rights issue of 10 billion Norwegian kroner (US$1.7 billion). The rights issue and the deal are supported by the Norwegian state, which currently owns 43.8 percent of Norsk Hydro shares.
After the deal, the Norwegian state’s share in Norsk Hydro will drop to 34.5 percent. Vale will get a seat on Norsk Hydro’s board of directors.
The transaction and the rights issue are subject to approval by the Norwegian parliament and a Norsk Hydro extraordinary general meeting, which will be held at the end of next month.
Norsk Hydro said it expects the transaction to be closed in the fourth quarter of this year.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a