Chinalco to buy more copper firms
Updated: 2007-10-20 09:50
Aluminum Corp of China plans to buy more overseas copper mining companies to meet rising domestic demand and help diversify earnings.
The Beijing-based company plans to "make moves on several firms listed on overseas markets" and may make an announcement this month, said Xiao Yaqing, chairman of the State-owned company, also known as Chinalco. Chinalco bought Peru Copper Inc for $860 million in August.
Mining companies in China are likely to buy metal deposits and oilfields in Africa, Latin America and Australia to feed demand, Citigroup said this month. The nation needs more commodities to fuel growth and almost doubled copper imports in the first nine months.
"China wants a large, State-owned metal and mining firm to secure supplies to meet its surging demand," Heng Kun, an analyst at Essence Securities Co, said in Beijing. "Xiao's ambition is to fulfill that role and overseas acquisitions are obviously the quickest way."
Vancouver-based Peru Copper owns Peru's third-largest deposit of the metal used to make wires and pipes. Chinalco also agreed this year to buy a 49 percent stake in Yunnan Copper Group, which owns China's third-biggest producer.
"We hope to acquire more copper resources because this is what China is short of," Chinalco's Xiao said at the sidelines of the 17th Party congress.
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