Mining Journal > Finance > Grupo Mexico wins fight to regain control of Asarco

Finance

Grupo Mexico SAB can regain control of its bankrupt US copper miner, a judge in Texas ruled in rejecting a competing offer from Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd.
     
US District Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville, Texas ruled that Grupo Mexico’s proposal to pay about US$2.5 billion to Asarco LLC’s creditors “is both feasible and confirmable.”
    
The decision means that, barring a successful appeal by Sterlite, Grupo Mexico should be able to take back control of the Tucson, Arizona-based copper miner.
    
Grupo Mexico and Sterlite each promised to spend more than US$2.5 billion to guarantee that Asarco’s creditors are repaid in full. In ruling in favor of Grupo Mexico, Hanen agreed with a lower-court opinion from the bankruptcy judge that oversaw Asarco’s case for five years.
    
“In many ways the course of this bankruptcy has been a contentious and hard-fought piece of litigation,” Hanen wrote in his decision, which came late Friday evening.
    
The plan calls for Grupo Mexico to contribute US$2.2 billion in cash to Asarco to pay creditors. An additional payment of about US$1.4 billion will be made by Asarco, Grupo Mexico said in a statement today. Asarco will issue a one-year note for US$280 million to pay asbestos creditors and forgive US$161 million worth of Asarco tax obligations to Americas Mining Corp, a Grupo Mexico unit.
    
The plan will be funded with US$1.4 billion of financing from “internationally recognized financial institutions” to Americas Mining Corp and US$800 million from Grupo Mexico, the company said. Americas Mining Corp will post a US$2.2 billion cash deposit to close the plan, Grupo Mexico said.

Nov 15 (Bloomberg)