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BHP to sell Brazil iron ore stake
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Shares in the world's largest diversified miner, BHP Billiton, closed 2.26 percent lower Monday after it said it would sell its indirect stake in Brazil's Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) for about $343 million. BHP closed at A$9.95 on a day the broader market, measured by the S&P/ASX200, lost 1.14 percent. CVRD is the world's largest producer of iron ore. BHP holds its interest through its 67 percent-held Sweet River Investments Ltd, which has a stake of 11.56 percent in Valepar SA. In turn, Valepar holds about 27 percent of CVRD. BHP said Monday its interest in Sweet River corresponds to about 2.1 percent of CVRD's total capital. Put optionIt said the sale by Sweet River to Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN), is being made via the exercise of a put option on its Valepar shares to CSN that is exerciseable up until May 2004. BHP Billiton Metais SA chairman Wilson Nelio Brumer said the interest in Sweet River was bought at a time when Billiton was looking at a potential entry into the top end of the iron ore business. "As a result of Billiton's merger with BHP in June 2001, the strategic value of this investment has changed. BHP Billiton believes that there is little to be gained from holding the option to the end of its life," he said.
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