September 20 (SeeNews) - The Dutch unit of US-based Freeport-McMoRan has filed for a regulatory approval to buy 100% of Bulgaria's Asarel-Exploration, a unit of local copper mining company Asarel Medet, the Bulgarian competition watchdog has said.
The acquisition is expected to affect the metal and minerals markets in Bulgaria, according to a statement posted on the website of the Commission for Protection of Competition.
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In 2014, Bulgaria's caretaker government granted a three-year metallic mineral prospecting permit to Asarel-Exploration at the Borimechkovo site, in central Bulgaria. The company pledged at the time to invest around two million levs ($1.14 million/1.02 million euro) into exploration works.
Freeport-McMoRan [NYSE:FCX] is a US-based producer of gold, silver and copper, listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)