Russia's Severstal, one of the world's leading steel and mining companies, did not exercise its right to buy shares in Berkeley Resources Limited uranium company and the parties will continue negotiations on the options of their cooperation, Berkeley said in a statement on Monday.
Severstal's right to buy 16.3 million new shares in Berkeley, which owns several assets in Spain, expired on January 14, 2011 while the companies failed to agree the timeframe of the expected deal, the firm said.
Berkeley Resources' board of directors has previously offered Severstal a chance to buy a controlling stake in the company and purchase shares at a price of 1.7 Australian dollars per share, provided that the Russian steelmaker announced its intention to further buy the stock at the price of A$2 dollars per share. The offer expired on December 10, 2010, and was rescheduled to January 14.
Severstal's representative has told RIA Novosti the company was primarily focused on due diligence of Berkeley, after which it would decide on whether to invest or not in the company. RIA Novosti
