Anglo American to sell steel business to OneSteel for $932 million

As part of the its  divestment plan to focus on its core commodity assets, global mining giant Anglo American yesterday agreed announced a deal to sell its steel business to Australian miner and steel maker OneSteel, which also has externsive  ore processing facilities, for $932 million.

London-based but Africa-focussed Anglo American agreed to sell a major part of Scaw Metals Group, its Americas focussed steel business, Moly-Cop and AltaSteel to Sydney-based OneSteel, a former subsidiary of the world's largest miner BHP Billiton.

The divestment consists of Anglo American's grinding media and steel products businesses located in North and South America, and includes its joint venture stake in the Donhad grinding media business in Australia and GenAlta Recycling Inc. in Canada.

Moly-Cop is headquartered in Santiago, Chile, and is a global manufacturer of grinding media, with facilities in Chile, Peru, Mexico and Canada. These facilities convert steel bars supplied by both AltaSteel and external steel suppliers into grinding balls for use in mine milling circuits.

AltaSteel is based in Edmonton, Canada and is a vertically-integrated steel mini-mill, which is supplied with scrap steel by Maple Leaf Metals (wholly-owned) and GenAlta (50 per cent-owned). AltaSteel's products are heat-treated grinding rods for use in rod mills and reinforcing bars.

The sale also includes a 40 per cent interest in Donhad, a joint venture with Delta Group Australia (Pty) Ltd. Donhad is managed by Delta and serves the Australian grinding media market.