CSN to Buy Riversdale Stake to Boost Coal Supplies

Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Cia. Siderurgica Nacional SA plans to buy 16.3 percent of Australian coal-exploration company Riversdale Mining Ltd. for about A$190.5 million ($175.4 million) as it seeks greater control over raw materials.

The board of Brazil’s third-largest steelmaker approved an initial purchase of 28.8 million Riversdale shares, and CSN aims to buy an additional 2.48 million shares following Australian regulatory approval, the company said today in a statement. Rio de Janeiro-based CSN will pay A$6.10 for each share, 6.6 percent more than today’s closing price in Australian trading.

CSN said the acquisition is the “first step” toward becoming self-sufficient in coal as it seeks to control costs. CSN, which has the capacity to produce 5.6 million metric tons of crude steel a year, imports all its coal now. Metallurgical coal is used as a raw material in blast furnaces at CSN’s Volta Redonda crude-steel mill in Brazil.

“Coal is the only raw material CSN doesn’t have,” Flavia Ferreira, a company spokeswoman in Sao Paulo, said today in a telephone interview.

CSN initially wants to get metallurgical coal from Riversdale and possibly thermal coal for its power plants, Ferreira said.

CSN’s Strategy

The acquisition reinforces CSN’s strategy to supply its own raw materials and services “with stakes in iron ore, logistics, tin mining and now coal,” Ida Breyer, a Credit Suisse AG analyst in Sao Paulo, said in a note to clients.

Tata Steel Ltd., India’s biggest steelmaker, owns about 19 percent of Sydney-based Riversdale. Other shareholders include Oppenheimer Funds and Barclays Capital, according to Bloomberg data. Tata said Oct. 30 it was seeking thermal coal from Riversdale’s Mozambique mine for its power unit.

Benga, a project between Riversdale and Tata in Mozambique, will produce about 1.7 million tons of metallurgical coal and 300,000 tons of thermal coal starting in 2010, Riversdale said Oct. 28 in a statement to the Australian stock exchange. The mine may be expanded to 3.3 million tons of metallurgical coal and 2 million tons of thermal coal by 2014, Riversdale said.

CSN fell 0.8 percent to 59.37 reais in Sao Paulo trading today. The stock has more than doubled this year, more than the 79 percent gain for Brazil’s benchmark Bovespa index.

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