Cliffs Natural Still Looking for Acquisitions, Finance Chief Brlas Says

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., the U.S. iron-ore producer which has made four takeover bids this year, said it’s still looking for opportunities to make additional acquisitions.

“It needs to fit the criteria of our strategy, the minerals that we’re comfortable with, that we believe have good supply and demand dynamics,” Chief Financial Officer Laurie Brlas said in an interview in New York today. “There could be a bolt-on, it certainly could be transformational, but those are less common.”

The Cleveland-based company’s deals in 2010 have a combined value of more than $1 billion, Brlas said. They include a $757 million bid for coal miner INR Energy LLC and a $80.8 million offer for Spider Resources Inc.

Cliffs will look for deals in a similar price range, she said. The company intends to expand in locations where it already operates, which include North America, Latin America and Australia, Brlas said.

“Our strategy is growth and diversification,” she said. “The organic growth opportunities are limited just because you’re mining the rocks that are in the ground, and in many of our locations there’s just not many.”

Second-quarter net income rose to $260.7 million, or $1.92 a share, from $45.5 million, or 36 cents, a year earlier, Cliffs said July 28.

To contact the reporter on this story: Laura Marcinek in New York lmarcinek3@bloomberg.net

• Tweet
• More
  • Business Exchange
  • Buzz up!
  • Digg
• Print
• Email