Sinosteel in talks for Fortescue stake
26 May 2008
Sinosteel Group, China's largest ferrous metals trader, is in talks to buy an 8% stake in Australian iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group, Reuters reported, citing The Australian Financial Review. William Ren, deputy general manager of Sinosteel Australia, told the newspaper in an interview that Sinosteel was is discussions with US-based fund Harbinger Capital Partners to buy over half of its 16% stake in the Austrialian miner. Harbinger's total stake is worth US$2.1 billion. Ren was quoted as saying: "We would perfer to have it all, but we can't." Shares of Fortescue hit a A$9.98 (US$9.58) on Friday, a record high. Sinosteel already has stakes in a couple of Australian mining interests. The company owns 2.4% of Murchison Metals and is poised to increase its 19.9% holding in Midwest Corp to a controlling stake.