March 17 (SeeNews) - German copper producer Norddeutsche Affinerie (NA) expects to complete the takeover of Brussels-based metals group Cumerio by the middle of April, the company said.
NA holds more than 95% of Cumerio shares after it reopened its takeover bid for the Belgian company in February, NA said in a statement.
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Cumerio owns the Cumerio Med copper smelter in Pirdop, western Bulgaria, and also has operations in Belgium, Italy and Switzerland. Norddeutsche Affinerie made a cash offer of 30 euro ($47.30) per share to Cumerio's shareholders in June 2007, valuing Cumerio at 777 million euro.
“Integration teams, staffed by NA and Cumerio, have taken up their work. They will identify the specific strength of both companies (best practise) and will merge corporate functions,” the statement said.
Cumerio Med, 80 kilometres east of Bulgaria’s capital Sofia, transforms concentrates with 25%-35% copper content into anodes of 99% copper. Some of the anodes are transported by train to the Cumerio plant in Olen, Belgium, as feed for the electrolytic refinery. Cumerio Med also produces copper cathodes for regional markets. Last year its annual smelting capacity was increased to 275,000 tonnes of anodes from 240,000 tonnes. The group is building another 180,000 tonne copper refinery in Pirdop. The production of the new refinery should start in the second quarter of 2008.
Cumerio ( www.cumerio.com ) reported a 4.2% year-on-year drop in anode copper production from its Bulgarian smelterto 229,000 tonnes in 2007 due to a maintenance shutdown. Cathode production totalled 70,000 tonnes in 2007, up from 67,000 the previous year.
($ = 0.6337 euro)