EAGER to expand their mining services businesses, OneSteel and Orica are believed to be among local bidders preparing to take part in the auction for private equity-owned grinding media business Magotteaux International.
The business, which is making about 60 million ($79.8m) in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, could fetch as much as 600m.
It's understood earnings are projected to grow by 15-20 per cent next year for the business which has a 10 per cent share of the global grinding media market.
European private equity group Industri Kapital, which invested in Magotteaux in 2006, is thought to have appointed Morgan Stanley to sell the Belgian-based business.
Magotteaux is a supplier of grinding media for the cement, mining, aggregates and dredging industries.
OneSteel last year moved to shift its earnings away from steelmaking with the $US932m acquisition of the steel grinding media unit of AngloAmerican. The deal to buy the businesses which were part of Anglo's Scaw Metals -- and make steel balls and rods that are used to grind up copper and gold ore in the huge rotating mills of mining plants -- turned OneSteel into the world's largest maker of steel grinding material used by mining companies.
Underbidders in that sale including Cap Group of Chile, Koppers and ArcelorMittal are also expected to take a look at Magotteaux.
Elsewhere, management presentations and site visits are set to kick off in the next few days for short-listed bidders in the $1 billion-plus auction for coal play Bandanna Energy.
While a handful of offshore bidders including India's Aditya Birla, JSW Steel and Jindal Steel and Power, are said to have been waved through to the second round, Wesfarmers, which is believed to have lodged an expression of interest, was not on the short list.
OST Price at posting:
$1.89 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
