South Korea's POSCO buys Thainox stake for $287 mln

* To expand its presence in SE Asia's stainless steel market
* Thainox stocks hit 6-1/2-year high

BANGKOK/SEOUL, July 7 (Reuters) - POSCO Pcl , the world's third-biggest steelmaker, said on Thursday it was buying a stake in Thainox Stainless Pcl , Southeast Asia's largest stainless steel producer, in a deal worth 305.9 billion won ($287 million).

In a bid to gain a strong foothold in fast-growing Southeast Asia, South Korea's POSCO, which already owns 15.39 percent of the Thai company, will buy the stake from major shareholder the Mahagitsiri family at 2.20 baht per share.

The news sent Thainox shares up more than 10 percent when they resumed trade in the afternoon after being suspended on Thursday morning pending the announcement.

They ended at 2.08 baht, up 9.5 percent. The offer price was 15.7 percent higher than Wednesday's close of 1.90 baht.

POSCO ended down 0.3 percent at 464,500 won.

"The deal aims to tap into the Southeast Asian market and enhance its global competitiveness in the stainless business," POSCO told the South Korean stock exchange.

POSCO said it planned to buy all the remaining shares it did not own in a tender offer at the same price between September and October.

That would value the company at around $440 million, according to a Reuters calculation.

Thailand, where global home appliance makers and Japanese car makers have production bases, is the biggest cold-rolled stainless steel market in Southeast Asia, POSCO said.

Stainless steel demand in Southeast Asia rises 8 percent a year on average and supply falls short of demand, it said.

Analysts were positive on the takeover plan.

"The deal will help POSCO secure a foothold in the Southeast Asian market and compete better with Japanese and other competitors," said Aum Jin-seok, an analyst at Kyobo Securities.

POSCO could cancel the tender if it was unable to get at least 51 percent of Thainox, the Thai firm told the exchange.

POSCO has long been interested in taking over Thainox but talks had stalled due to political instability in Thailand.

There was a general election in Thailand at the weekend and the outcome -- a landslide win for what was the opposition -- may ensure more stability in the near term, analysts say.

In 2009, POSCO bought a 90 percent stake in a Vietnamese stainless steel company, Asian Stainless Corp.

POSCO's Chinese stainless joint venture, Zhangjiagang POSCO Stainless Steel, recently completed the construction of additional facilities that raised its annual capacity to 1 million tonnes from 800,000 tonnes.

That capacity addition will bring POSCO's total stainless steel capacity in South Korea and overseas to 3 million tonnes, making it the market's second-biggest player along with Taiyuan Iron & Steel and just behind Acerinox SA , POSCO said. ($1 = 30.48 Baht) ($1 = 1065.95 Korean Won)

Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions

Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:04am GM

March 14 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 0900 GMT on Monday.

** Spanish power utility Iberdrola said it needed 3 billion euros ($4.18 billion) in additional financing for an aquisition in Brazil, buying back its Renovables unit .

** Cellcom Israel has offered to buy its sister company

Netvision for about 1.5 billion shekels ($421 million) in cash, Israel's largest mobile phone operator said.

** U.S. private equity firm Mount Kellett Capital Management along with two Indian firms are close to buying 35 percent in pharma retailer MedPlus Health Services for 4.1 billion rupees ($91 million), the Times of India reported on Monday.

** Japan's Nippon Life Insurance Company is buying a 26 percent stake in India's Reliance Life Insurance for $680 million, the Indian company said in a statement.

** France Telecom and Kuwaiti logistics group Agility are to acquire a 44 percent stake in fast-growing Iraqi mobile operator Korek Telecom, the groups said in a joint statement.

** State-run Steel Authority of India said it is conducting a joint feasibility study with Japan's Kobe Steel for a steel plant and a 1,000 megawatt gas-based power plant in north India.

** Zain approved an offer by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding and Bahrain Telecom (Batelco) for its Saudi assets, paving the way for completion of a $12 billion stake deal with UAE's Etisalat .

** Furniture retailer JD Group said it has agreed to buy Steinhoff's South African retail unit for about 3 billion rand ($436.1 million).

** Care homes operator Southern Cross Healthcare Group said it had walked away from offer talks and was instead looking to its landlords and the government to help tackle its increasingly precarious financial situation.

** British printing company St Ives Plc said it agreed to sell its loss-making magazine business for 20 million pounds ($32.5 million) to a unit of private equity firm Walstead Investments Ltd.

** Spanish oil company Repsol said on Monday private investors have agreed to buy 3.83 percent of its Argentine unit YPF at $42.4 per share.

** Troubled company AssetCo Plc , the largest outsourcing partner to London Fire Brigade, rejected a fresh takeover approach calling it "opportunistic", exactly a month after its short-term funding issues punctured offer talks with a third party.

(Compiled by Krishnakali Sengupta in Bangalore,sourced:Reuters)

Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions

Wed Feb 23, 2011 2:32pm GMT

Feb 23 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 1430 GMT on Wednesday.

** Enterprise Products Partners L.P. has offered to buy its majority-owned midstream energy firm Duncan Energy Partners L.P. for about $2.42 billion in units to ramp up its pipeline services amid higher North American gas production.

** Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Norinchukin Bank are planning to invest an additional 100 billion yen ($1.2 billion) in credit card firm Mitsubishi UFJ Nicos, two sources familiar with the matter said.

** Rio Tinto , the world's third-largest miner by market value, said it received a binding $340 million offer from industrial materials group Imerys for its talc business.

** Belgian holding company RHJ International will sell its 77.9 percent stake in Japanese car switches maker Niles Co. Ltd for 15.5 billion yen ($187.5 million) in cash, it said.

** Cable & Wireless Communications said it would sell its operating business in Bermuda to Canada's Bragg Group for $70 million, as it remodels its Caribbean operations to battle a weak economy and strong competition.

** Nasdaq OMX Group Inc could launch a rival bid for NYSE Euronext to avoid being left out of a global merger frenzy among exchanges, a source said.

** Rotork PLC said it is to buy Rotork Servo Controles De Mexico, its Mexican sales and service agent.

** Lockheed Martin Corp is selling its Pacific Architects and Engineers Inc military services business to private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg LLC.

** Tesco , Britain's biggest retailer, is not the leading contender for Polish retail chain Zabka, put on the block by private equity firm Penta Investments, several sources told Reuters.

** Hong Kong's CLP Holdings Ltd is likely to sell a 24 percent stake in Thailand's Electricity Generating Pcl (EGCO) to Tokyo Electric Power Co , a source close to the deal said.

** Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk expects to finalise the sale of supermarket chain Netto in the UK "some time in 2011", Chief Executive Nils Andersen told a teleconference.

** Natixis SA is still interested in UniCredit SpA's asset manager Pioneer, the French bank's chairman said and UniCredit said bids should be made by the end of March.

** Dutch food and chemicals group CSM unveiled plans a for a new bio plastics joint venture and said it was in talks to set up the new factory with Thai-based Indorama Ventures .

** Qatar is open to buying stakes in part state-owned UK lenders RBS and Lloyds Banking Group and has discussed investing in the UK, Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani said.

** Spanish infrastructure firm Abertis is studying a plan to spin off its car parking and logistics units, the latest indication of the influence its new, dividend-hungry private equity shareholder is exerting.
(Compiled by Swetha Gopinath and Rachel Chitra in Bangalore, sourced:Thomson Reuters)