Glencore Xstrata sells Peruvian mine for $6.2B to Chinese consortium
Glencore Xstrata has sold its interest in the Las Bambas copper mine in Peru to a Chinese consortium in a $US5.85 billion ($A6.2 billion) cash deal, making it one of China's largest mining acquisitions in recent years, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
The commodities trader said on Sunday it had sold its interest to a consortium led by Hong Kong-listed MMG, the offshore arm of China Minmetals Corp.
Hong Kong-based Guoxin International Investment and China's Citic Metal Co are the other partners in the consortium.
Minmetals had been reported to be the preferred bidder for the Peruvian copper mine.
Cash-starved junior explorers tempted by ‘dubious’ offers
Firms dressing themselves up as private equity are targeting vulnerable Australian junior explorers with funding offers too good to refuse, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
It is understood a new breed of firm, which claims to specialise in natural resources, has been active in the Australian market since last year and targets cash-starved junior explorers with good projects in the pipeline.
Financing for the junior explorer sector was thrown into the spotlight after the $A67 million iron ore tiddler Padbury said on Friday it had secured $6 billion in financing from a mystery funder to resurrect the failed Oakajee port and rail project.
The share price more than doubled after the release, before the company entered a trading halt, saying it could need until Tuesday to reveal the funder's identity and terms of the financing deal.
S&P cuts outlook on Origin rating to negative
Standard & Poor’s has downgraded its outlook on Origin Energy’s credit rating to negative, citing its weaker financial profile through to the 2015-16 financial year, according to the Australian Financial Review.
Credit analyst Richard Creed pointed to the likelihood that earnings from Origin’s core energy markets business would remain “soft” in the next months, given mass-market price discounting in the retail market and “persistent subdued demand”
While earnings from the business are now expected to have stabilised, S&P says it considers growth “will be challenging until the material benefit of contracted gas sales is realised by fiscal 2016.”
