HEDGE FUND NEWS

West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net)- US hedge fund Harbinger has increased its stake in Australian iron ore miner Midwest Corp. Ltd. to 12.53%, an effort to block Chinese iron ore trader Sinosteel Corporation’s takeover of the latter.

Harbinger, a major shareholder of Murchison Metals Ltd., increased its stake in Midwest to 10.53% on July 14 and 12.53% later, compared to a 9.1% it owned earlier in the year.

Murchison Metals, which has a 9.98% stake in Midwest, said days ago that it would give up the proposal for a merger with Midwest. However, it would also refuse to sell it’s stake to Sinosteel.

Sinosteel had a 19.89% stake in Midwest when it filed an AUD 6.38-per-share bid for the latter. It had increased its stake in the Australian miner to 50.97% by July 10. In addition to a 4.1% stake four Midwest directors promised to sell to it, the company’s stake in Midwest has increased to 55.07% in total.

Harbinger is owned by the Harbert Managment Corporation, which has committed capital and assets under management which have grown from $1.5 billion in 2002 to $22.9 billion as of March 1, 2008. 

Research and Editing by Alex Akesson
Email: alex@hedgeco.net

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