Kobe Steel transfers Comsigua shares to CVG

Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel has announced that it has reached an agreement to transfer all of its shares in Venezuela-based Complejo Siderúrgico de Guayana, C.A. (Comsigua) to the Venezuelan state-owned Corporación Venezolana de Guayana (CVG) and has signed a share transfer agreement.
 
Comsigua produces and markets hot briquetted iron. Upon the announcement on May 21, 2009 that the Venezuelan government would nationalize Comsigua, Kobe Steel and the other Japanese shareholders of Comsigua started negotiations with the Venezuelan government on transferring their shares to the Venezuelan government. The Japanese shareholders of Comsigua, including Kobe Steel, and the Venezuelan government subsequently reached an agreement on the conditions for transferring the shares.
 
According to the share transfer agreement signed between Kobe Steel and the Venezuelan government on May 20, 2011, Kobe Steel has transferred all of its 10,616,821 shares held in Comsigua to CVG.
 
The transfer of Comsigua's shares will not have an important effect on Kobe Steel's consolidated and non-consolidated operating results.