China Makes $3 Bln Bid for Zimbabwe Steel Company

Posted 27 November 2006 @ 10:32 am EET     Print     Reprint     E-Mail     Comments

HARARE (Reuters) - A Chinese corporation has offered $3 billion for a 60 percent stake in Zimbabwe's struggling state-owned steel firm in what would be the largest investment by China in the African country, a government daily newspaper reported on Monday.

The Herald newspaper said Zimbabwe's Ambassador to China Christopher Mutsvangwa said the Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) had put in an offer for shares in the troubled Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (Ziscosteel) and was now waiting for a response from Harare.

"MCC applied for a 60 percent stake in Ziscosteel after a meeting which was held between MCC officials and our government," he was quoted as saying.

President Robert Mugabe Mugabe's government is battling to keep Ziscosteel which is operating at around 30 percent of its capacity from collapsing after years of mismanagement.