ArcelorMittal looking at buying into Brazil's MMX: Reports

SAO PAULO: The world's biggest steel producer, Europe-based ArcelorMittal, is interested in buying into Brazil's MMX Miner to bolster its iron ore supplies, Brazilian media reported Wednesday.

"We are in talks with MMX," the head of ArcelorMittal's Brazilian operations, Sebastiao Costa Filho told O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper.

"We will have a meeting Friday in ArcelorMittal's mergers and acquisitions department in London to handle the matter," he was quoted as saying.

Costa Filho said the deal was part of a strategy to ensure Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal was self-sufficient in iron ore supplies for its steel-processing operations.

MMX Miner belongs to the EBX industrial group controlled by Brazil's richest man, Eike Batista. The unit has annual output of 10.8 million tons.

Currently, Batista holds 43.55 percent of MMX Miner. Chinese steel company Wuhan Iron and Steel Co. (Wisco) has another 21.52 percent. The rest is traded on the stockmarket.

ArcelorMittal Brasil currently produces 1.2 million tons of raw steel per year, accounting for 10 percent of parent company ArcelorMittal's total production.