Asarco asset purchaser increases cash portion of offer by $500 million

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Aug. 24 - Asarco LLC asset purchaser Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. has increased its offer for substantially all of Asarco's operating assets by about $500 million, and has proposed to support a plan of reorganization that is intended to pay creditors in full with post-bankruptcy interest, according to a Sterlite news release.

With this improvement, Sterlite said the revised total cash consideration will increase to $ 2.1 billion.

While there is an increase in the cash consideration, Sterlite said it will receive a 72.5% interest in the litigation trust to be set up by Asarco in connection with a judgment against Asarco parent Americas Mining Corp., which was awarded earlier this year by the U.S. District Court of Texas, Brownsville division.

According to the release, the proposed $207.9 million nine-year copper participation note and asbestos creditor put option components of the sale agreement remain unchanged.

Asarco, a Tucson, Ariz., mining company, filed for bankruptcy on Aug. 9, 2005 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Its Chapter 11 case number is 05-21207.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.