CVRD and Arcelor jointly buy 15% stake of Acesita

CVRD and Arcelor jointly buy 15% stake of Acesita

The European steelmaker Arcelor and Brazilian mining group CVRD agreed last week on a joint purchase of nearly 15% of the steelmaking unit of South American stainless steel producer Acesita SA. The purchase will be made against $161.7 million. Under the terms of the deal, to take over 8.8% of Acesita's CST unit Arcelor will pay $102 million and CVRD will pay $ 59.7 million for 5.17%. The deal will be complete by April 24, 2003 by which date Arcelor and CVRD will be owning 28.02% of CST's voting stock, as both companies held stakes in CST previously. Arcelor already holds 27.7% of Acesita, through Usinor of France, one of the companies that took part in forming Arcelor by merging with Spanish Aceralia and Luxembourg's Arbed in February 2002. Arcelor and CVRD reserve the right to jointly acquire an additional 14.85% stake until May 2005 under an existing shareholder pact.