Kazakhmys Mulls All Options For ENRC; Still Planning MKM Sale
03/01/2012| 04:09am US/Eastern
Recommend:
Kazakhmys PLC (>> Kazakhmys plc), Kazakhstan's biggest copper producer, is considering all options to extract value from its 26% equity stake in Eurasian Natural Resources Corp PLC (>> Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation), including a potential sale, and is still seeking a buyer for its German MKM copper business, the company's chief executive said Thursday.
"I don't think that sale is the only option" for the ENRC stake, said Oleg Novachuk. "We don't rule it out....we are considering new options and will chose the ones that maximize the value," he said without disclosing what those options might be.
Kazakhmys' stake in ENRC was valued at $3.7 billion as of Feb 29.
Regarding MKM, the company's downstream German copper processing business, Novachuk said Kazakhmys still considers it to be a non-core asset even though it is now generating good earnings.
"MKM performed well, despite the economic climate, achieving record underlying financial results," Novachuk said in a statement. "In 2011, we received a dividend of EUR10 million and anticipate receiving further dividends in 2012, reflecting the underlying strength of this business."
Novachuk said the company is also actively looking for mergers and acquisitions within the region where it operates but declined to provide any specific comment about U.K.-listed Frontier Mining Ltd. (>> Frontier Mining Ltd.), a Kazakhstan-focused copper and gold company.
-By Alex MacDonald, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9328; alex.macdonald@dowjones.com
Recommend :
