China's Wuhan Iron & Steel Group (WISCO) and Brazilian iron ore miner MMX and the latter's parent company EBX have formally completed an equity exchange in Rio de Janeiro. WISCO thus becomes the second largest shareholder in MMX and has obtained the right to mine reserves of about 600 million mt.
MMX owns the Sudeste mine and Corumba mine in Minas Gerais, Brazil, as well as the Minera mine in Chile, with a total reserve of 3 billion mt and a current annual capacity of 10.70 million mt. WISCO had signed a cooperation agreement with EBX on November 30, 2009.
In the deal, WISCO purchased a 21.52 percent stake (101.7 million shares) in MMX for US$400 million. Meanwhile, WISCO will obtain two board seats and send three technical committee members to participate in technical and operational management at MMX.