Blairman can say only this.......................................... see below: also Japan and Korean also purchased 1.95 BILLION in the same year
Chinese Companies Pay $1.95 Billion for CBMM Stake, Xinhua Says
Bloomberg News
September 1, 2011 — 1:55 AM EDT
CITIC Group, Baosteel Group Corp. and Taiyuan Iron and Steel (Group) Co. jointly acquired a 15 percent stake in Brazilian niobium producer CBMM for $1.95 billion, Xinhua News reported, without saying where it got the information.
The Chinese companies set up a joint venture, China Niobium Investment Holding Co., to acquire the CBMM stake, according to the report. Calls to Taiyuan Steel’s office in Shanxi province and CITIC Group’s in Beijing weren’t answered.
The report follows the purchase of a similar-sized stake in the closely held company whose full name is Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineracao by a group of Japanese and Korean companies in March. The companies that bought that stake include Posco, South Korea’s National Pension Service, Nippon Steel Corp., JFE Holdings Inc., Sojitz Corp. and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp.
Rising prices of rare metals from niobium, which can be used to strengthen steel, and indium, used in liquid-crystal displays, to lithium, chrome and magnesium, have increased competition for supplies.
The Brazilian producer, established in 1955, mines and produces niobium, a key material used to make steel for cars, buildings and oil pipelines, and has about 82 percent of the global market, Posco said in the March statement. Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.
CXX Price at posting:
24.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
