The global financial crisis, which originated in the US and has spread to other countries around the world causing major stock exchanges to tumble, has also created casualties in the steel and mining industries.
Thus, on September 24, the Australian miner Strike Resources Limited (Strike) announced the postponement of funding for its two iron ore developing projects in Peru due to the uncertainty created by the current financial crisis.
The delay in the projects' financing came as a result of the declaration of Gallagher Holding Limited (Gallagher), an investment company belonging to Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov, that its due diligence for the second tranche of its agreement to buy shares in Strike has not been satisfied as a result of the insecurity created by the financial crisis.
In July 2008, Gallagher announced its intention to buy up to $100 million-worth of shares in Strike, to be purchased in two tranches, the first of which was completed during the same month. In the first phase, the company purchased 18 million shares in Strike, paying $41.2 million. Meanwhile, Gallagher decided not to proceed with the second phase of purchase of shares worth $44.2 million.
The capital acquired from the share sale would have been used to finance Strike's Apurimac Ferrum and Cuzco Lamp iron ore development projects in Peru.