UPDATE 1-Union ratifies deal in Goodyear unit sale

(Reuters) - United Steelworkers members at four plants approved the
contract last week and the central union resolved remaining
issues with Carlyle over the weekend related to establishing a
secure trust for retiree health care.




Goodyear, the largest U.S. tire maker, agreed to sell the
unit to Carlyle for $1.48 billion earlier this year. Goodyear
has said it expects to complete the sale in the third quarter.
The sale was contingent on the new union contract.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

UPDATE 1-U.S. Steel joins others eyeing Stelco -union chief

(Reuters) - Bill Ferguson, union president at Stelco's Lake Erie works,
said U.S. Steel officials had visited Stelco last week and that
he had met with representatives of Russian steelmaker OAO
Severstal .




That follows similar visits to Stelco recently by
representatives of Ukraine's Metinvest and Essar Global Ltd.,
the parent firm of Essar Steel Ltd. , Ferguson, head
of the United Steelworkers Local 8782, told Reuters.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Japan's Nikkei 225 Average, Topix Rise; Toyota, Nippon Steel Lead Climb

(Bloomberg) -- Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose
166.85, or 1 percent, to 18,150.99 as of 9:03 a.m. in Tokyo. The
broader Topix index added 17.87, or 1 percent , to 1780.93.

Toyota Motor Corp. and Nippon Steel Corp. led the advances.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

UPDATE 1-Brazil Gerdau says still on hunt for acquisitions

(Reuters) - "We are going to remain open to new acquisitions and
continue with our strategy of being one of the consolidators
," Andre Gerdau Johannpeter said on a
conference call with reporters. "We remain on the hunt."




Gerdau Johannpeter made the remarks one day after its North
American unit Gerdau Ameristeel Corp agreed to
buy Texas-based Chaparral Steel Co for $4.22 billion,
its latest in a series of acquisitions in recent years.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Brazil Gerdau says still on hunt for acquisitions

(Reuters) - Gerdau Johannpeter made the remarks one day after its North
American unit Gerdau Ameristeel Corp. agreed to
buy Texas-based Chaparral Steel Co. for $4.22 billion,
its latest in a series of acquisitions in recent years.





Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

UPDATE 1-Bull-Dog wins court case vs Steel Partners-source

(Reuters) - TOKYO, June 28 - Japan's Bull-Dog Sauce has won a court case allowing it to erect anti-takeover defences aimed at thwarting a $260 million bid by U.S. hedge fund Steel Partners, said a source familiar with the situation.



Steel Partners had sought an injunction from the Tokyo District Court to bar the sauce maker from activating the defence, saying it discriminated against the fund and was financially damaging.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Japan's Bull-Dog wins court case vs Steel Partners-Jiji

(Reuters) - More than 80 percent of Bull-Dog Sauce's shareholders
approved a poison pill scheme on June 24 that will allow the
sauce maker to issue new shares making it more difficult for
Steel Partners to acquire the company.




Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

TEXT-Bluescope sells Vistawall business for US$190 mln

(Reuters) - BlueScope Steel has owned Vistawall since April 2004 when
it acquired Butler Manufacturing Company for US$206 million.
This acquisition included Butler Buildings and The Vistawall Group .
BlueScope Steel will continue to own and operate the Butler
Buildings and Vistawall China businesses.




On announcing the transaction, Managing Director and CEO of
BlueScope Steel, Mr Kirby Adams, said, "The time is right for
BlueScope Steel to divest Vistawall North America in order to
realise the outstanding value created in this non-steel
business which was included in the strategic acquisition of
Butler Manufacturing Company in 2004. The sale price represents
a strong financial return for our shareholders and reflects the
excellent work by BlueScope Steel and Vistawall's management
and employees in creating a successful and strong business."


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Egyptian shares slip, hit by foreign markets

(Reuters) - Egyptian shares slipped on Wednesday under the influence of depressed foreign markets and because Egypt's financial year ends this week, brokers said.

Major housing stocks fell on sentiment and Ezz Steel dropped 4.5 percent after the Ezz Group sold 10 percent at a large discount on the London GDR market.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Kobe, Cleveland-Cliff in joint iron ore project

(Reuters) - Last November, Kobe, Cleveland-Cliff, Steel Dynamics Inc.
and another partner suspended efforts to jointly
develop a reduced iron plant, to convert taconite into nearly
pure iron in nugget form, using Kobe's technology called ITmk3.




The parties were unable to reach economic and commercial
terms for the project, including completion of non-recourse
financing.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Russia's Evraz offers to buy rest of Highveld

(Reuters) - Evraz Group, Russia's largest steel maker by domestic volume, has offered to buy all the shares in South Africa's Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corp it does not already own.

Evraz, which owns 54.1 percent of Highveld, said on Monday it was offering $11.4 per share, 31 percent more than the price it paid to Anglo American Plc for its current stake.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Platinum Rises in New York on Risk of South Africa Strike; Palladium Falls

(Bloomberg) -- Platinum rose in New York on
speculation that miners may strike in South Africa, the world's
biggest producer of the metal. Palladium fell.

South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers rejected an
initial wage offer from Anglo Platinum Ltd., analyst James Steel
of HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. said in a report dated May 31.
South African companies last month started biennial wage talks
for agreements expiring in June.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Anglo American boosts S.African stock market

South African shares closed slightly higher on Monday, boosted by a rally in Anglo American, the bourse's most heavily weighted stock.

"Today was mainly a resources day, with industrials and financials flat," African Harvest portfolio manager Rajay Ambekar said.

The Johannesburg Top-40 index of blue-chip stocks traded 0.45 percent stronger to 24,029.73 points, while the All-share index gained 0.42 percent to 26,623.23 points.

Diversified mining group Anglo American was among the leading blue chips, up 1.80 percent to 361.73 rand. Rival miner BHP Billiton was 0.43 percent stronger, at 152.35 rand.

Steel manufacturer Mittal Steel, which is due to report results this week, was up 3.37 percent to 120.01 rand. Apart from expectations of solid results, Ambekar said the stock was further boosted by consolidation of the global steel market.

Read more at Reuters South Africa

Highveld FY headline EPS down 39 pct

South Africa's Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corp. Ltd. 2006 diluted headline earnings per share fell 39 percent to 10.49 rand, the firm said on Tuesday.

The group, the world's top vanadium producer, said headline earnings were 1.04 billion rand in the year to end-December, down from 1.72 billion rand.

Headline EPS is the key profit measure for South African firms and excludes non-trading, capital and certain extraordinary items.

Highveld said in November it expected headline EPS to fall 34-46 percent to between 933 South African cents and 1,133 cents, due to weaker demand for vanadium -- partly as a result of substitution.

Shares in Highveld rose 2.94 percent to 78.90 rand by 1350 GMT, outperforming the JSE Securities Exchange's mid-cap index which was flat.

Highveld said it expected a similar financial performance in 2007 than in 2006.
In 2005, Highveld's diluted headline EPS of 1,721.90 cents was more than double the figure of 2004 due to strong prices for the steel-hardening element vanadium, which is used in oil pipes.

Read more at Reuters South Africa

EU extends Evraz deal review, vanadium at issue

The European Commission extended on Friday its review of Evraz Group's plans to buy rival steelmaker Highveld, because of potential competition problems in the market for the steel-hardening element vanadium.

The deadline on the $678 million acquisition of the South African firm by Russia's Evraz was moved to February 20 from February 6.

That will allow rivals and customers to comment on proposals by Evraz designed to address potential competitive problems centring on vanadium, used among other things to create high-quality stainless steel.

The two companies are only a blip on the world steel market, but the ore they mine contains relatively high concentrations of vanadium.

Read more at Reuters South Africa

Steel sector mergers to continue

The search for size in the steel sector is set to intensify, analysts said on Thursday, with more deals like the merger of Tata Steel and Corus expected in the future as the industry continues to consolidate.

After the €27bn ($35bn) takeover of European steel group Arcelor by Mittal Steel last year, India's Tata Steel agreed to pay €10bn for British rival Corus on Wednesday.

Arcelor Mittal dwarfs it rivals, producing about three times as much as the second-biggest group in the world, Nippon Steel, while Tata/Corus will be either the fifth- or sixth-biggest supplier when the merger is completed.

Read more at FIN24.co.za

Corus deal buoys S.Africa's Mittal, Highveld shares

Shares in South Africa's Mittal Steel SA, a unit of the world's top steel group, jumped 6 percent on Wednesday to a fresh peak, buoyed by fresh consolidation in the global steel sector, traders said.

Shares in Mittal SA, majority-owned by Arcelor Mittal, traded 5.4 percent up at 109.62 rand, leading the blue chip Top-40 index, which lost 0.37 percent at 1303 GMT.

Read Full Article at Reuters South Africa

European stocks slip; FTSE up on oil, Vodafone

European shares ticked down on Wednesday but the UK's FTSE 100 index outperformed as oil firms tracked product prices higher and steel maker Corus rallied 7 percent after a higher-than-expected bid price.

Vodafone was another gainer, up 1.7 percent after the British mobile phone company beat third-quarter estimates for customer additions and reiterated its full-year forecast.

Read Full Article at Reuters South Africa

Kumba earnings, output expected to double by 2013

Kumba Iron Ore is expected to double its earnings by 2013 in tandem with the more than twofold increase in the company's iron ore production.

Kumba said on Friday that its basic earnings for last year were expected to be between R4.1 billion and R4.4 billion.

The company is aiming to raise its annual output of iron ore, a key ingredient in steel, from 31 million tons to more than 70 million tons by 2015.

Read Full Article at Business Report