South Korea’s top steelmaker POSCO said Thursday it has offloaded its entire stake in an Australian copper mine firm as part of its restructuring efforts to help boost financial health.
The 15.2-percent stake in Australian copper producer Sandfire Resources NL was sold off for A$130 million ($102.58 million) last week, POSCO said in a press release.
With the deal, POSCO reaped around A$100.9 million in profit as the sale price was nearly 4.5-fold that of the initial purchasing price.
POSCO acquired the stake in 2008 when it sought to invest in the manganese business through the Australian mining and exploration company, which later expanded into copper mining.
The stake sale comes amid the steelmaker’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its financial soundness.
POSCO has told investors that it will cut back on investment and secure some 1 trillion won (US$913.16 million) by selling non-core assets, including subsidiaries, this year. (Yonhap)
