Mitsubishi Materials to buy out Onahama copper smelter partners

Mitsubishi Materials

09/09/2022 11:23

TOKYO, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Japan's Mitsubishi Materials Corp
 5711.T  will take full ownership of its Onahama Smelting and
Refining copper joint venture in March, buying the stakes of
DOWA Holdings  5714.T  and Furukawa Co  5715.T , it said on
Friday.
    The move is aimed at establishing a flexible and efficient
decision-making structure to help the smelter overcome soaring
electricity and fuel costs.
    Mitsubishi Materials, Japan's third-largest copper supplier,
also plans to construct a new pre-processing facility for
recycled materials at the Onahama plant.
    Onahama, located in Fukushima, north of Tokyo, is currently
55.7% owned by Mitsubishi Materials, 31.6% by DOWA and 12.7% by
Fukukawa.
    After the acquisition on March 31, Mitsubishi Materials will
hold 100% of the business. 
    Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Mitsubishi
Materials said there will be little impact on its earnings for
the year to March 31.
        

 (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi
Editing by David Goodman)
 ((Yuka.Obayashi@thomsonreuters.com; +813-4520-1265;))