Reuters: Regulatory News: UPDATE 2-Vale sells Colombia coal mines to GS-led group

Reuters: Regulatory News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

UPDATE 2-Vale sells Colombia coal mines to GS-led group May 29th 2012, 01:02 Mon May 28, 2012 9:02pm EDT * Vale sells mines, port, railway stake for $407 mln * Brazil miner bought assets in 2008 for $306 mln * Buyer Colombian Natural Resources a Goldman Sachs unit * Vale says thermal coal not part of "core business" By Reese Ewing SAO PAULO, May 28 (Reuters) - Brazilian miner Vale said on Monday it agreed to sell its thermal coal assets in Colombia for $407 million to a unit of Colombian Natural Resources, a mining company controlled by U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs. Vale, the world's second-biggest miner, is shifting its focus away from thermal coal mining to concentrate on its operations in coking coal, a type of coal used by steel mills, Under the agreement, Vale, will sell 100 percent of its coal mines El Hatillo and Cerro Largo in the department of Cesar, and its port terminal Sociedad Portuaria Rio Córdoba on the Caribbean coast. Vale will also sell its 8.43 percent stake in the Ferrocarriles Del Norte de Colombia, which operates the railway between the mines and the terminal. Completion of the sale is dependent on regulatory approval from the Colombian government. Goldman Sach's Colombian Natural Resources already owns a stake in the railway and mines in the same region. Rio de Janeiro-based Vale bought the assets in 2008 for about $306 million. Vale is selling the mines because thermal coal, used to generate electricity, is not part of the company's "core business," Roger Downey, head of Vale's coal operations, said last week. But Vale, the world's largest iron-ore miner, is keeping coal mines that produce coking coal, he said. On Feb. 14, Reuters reported that Goldman Sach's Colombian Natural Resources was the most-likely winner in a bidding process for the mines. Vale's Colombian coal mines are smaller and less efficient than those operated by major coal producers such as Drummond , Glencore and Colombian Natural Resources. Drummond and Glencore were also considering bids for Vale's mines, sources told Reuters in February. Production at Vale's mines rose 19.4 percent to 3.57 million tonnes last year while output at Colombian Natural Resources increased 58 percent to 2.39 million tonnes.. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions