Arcelor, Nunavut closer to control of Baffinland

Thu Feb 3, 2011 11:41am GMT
* Arcelor, Nunavut hold 67 pct shares,
* Represents 64 percent of fully dilutes shares

Feb 3 (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS: Quote) and Nunavut Iron Ore inched closer to taking control of Baffinland Iron Mines (BIM.TO: Quote) as they took an additional 6.2 million shares in the junior explorer, raising their ownership to 64 percent.
The world's No. 1 steelmaker and private equity-backed Nunavut, which were earlier locked in a battle to get Baffinland's Mary River project in the Canadian Arctic, made a joint bid of C$1.50 a share for Baffinland last month.

Between them, ArcelorMittal and Nunavut now hold 67 percent of all outstanding shares and 45 percent of outstanding 2007 warrants, representing 64 percent of fully diluted shares.
ArcelorMittal and Nunavut have agreed to split their ownership of Baffinland at 70 percent and 30 percent.
The C$590 million offer is set to expire on Friday.

Shares of Baffinland, which owns nine high-grade deposits that could hold enough iron ore to supply all of Europe for years to come, closed at C$1.50 on Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Aftab Ahmed in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair, aftab.ahmed@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: aftab.ahmed.reuters.com@reuters.net)