Deals
Freeport Sells $1 Billion Mine Stake as Sumitomo Bets on Rebound
- Freeport-McMoRan had flagged asset sales to help cut debt
- `Prices will eventually come back,' Sumitomo's Nakazato says
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Freeport-McMoRan Inc. agreed to sell an additional stake in one of its biggest mines to Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. as the world’s top publicly traded copper producer battles to rein in debt after prices collapsed.
The $1 billion deal will cut Freeport’s stake in the Morenci open-pit mine in Arizona to 72 percent from 85 percent, according to a statement Monday. Freeport said it expects to record a gain of about $550 million on the deal. Its shares jumped as much as 9.9 percent in Frankfurt with U.S. markets closed.