Plenty of Interest for Arrium Australia around Asia

Hot off the press: this was in The Australian today (Thursday 6/10/2016)

The South Australian power blackout has not slowed the sales process for Arrium’s Australian assets, despite idling the key assets in the process — the Whyalla steelworks and nearby iron ore mines.
Administrator Mark Mentha says that following a Morgan Stanley trip through China, South Korea and Japan to stir up interest in the assets there has also been some notice from India.
The result was about 20 expressions of interest, he told a Whyalla radio station yesterday.
These are mostly for individual assets, rather than the whole kit of the steelworks, mines and east coast distribution, which KordaMentha wants to sell as one. But he adds there are “quite a few” flags flown by potential buyers for the full Australian business.
The rest of Arrium’s assets — namely the profitable Moly-Cop consumable steel-grinding ball business — is expected to be spun out as a separate entity.
Despite the South Australian blackout knocking the Whyalla plant offline until Tuesday, the sale process is on track, with bids due in the middle of this month and completion targeted by Christmas.
Mr Mentha says last week’s union vote, that will see steel and mine workers take a pay cut, will save $20 million a year and bring the steelworks closer to being a profitable concern.
Surprisingly, investigations of alternate power in the wake of the blackout should also contribute to lower costs, as well as boosting energy security for potential buyers.
He says an upgrade of boilers could boost current potential of 40MW of self-generated power to 140MW at relatively little cost.