POSCO consortium eyes $1 billion stake in ArcelorMittal Canada mine: report

A consortium including South Korean steelmaker POSCO <005490.KS> is seeking to acquire a roughly $1 billion stake in a Canadian iron ore mine operator controlled by ArcelorMittal , South Korean financial publication Money Today reported on Wednesday.

The bidding group seeks to acquire about a 10 percent stake in ArcelorMittal Mines Canada, with POSCO looking to invest $200-300 million and the rest coming from its partners, Money Today said citing unidentified sources in the merger and acquisition industry.

Morgan Stanley is advising POSCO, it said.

A POSCO spokeswoman said the company was studying the possibility of buying a stake in the operator, but nothing had been decided yet.

POSCO is seeking to secure iron ore and coking coal resources, which are key steel-making ingredients, as the world's fourth-biggest steelmaker aims to double raw material self-sufficiency to 50 percent by 2014 from 2010 levels.

ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, is exploring the sale of a minority stake in its Canadian iron ore business, sources familiar with the situation had said in October.

ArcelorMittal has retained RBC Capital Markets and Goldman Sachs to assist in the process, which has been ongoing for a few months, said one of the sources, adding that a deal is likely to be announced before the end of the year.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)