Vale SA (ADR) (NYSE:VALE) in a bid to reduce costs and improve its balance sheet had decided to sale its fertilizer assets, to The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS). Although the deal had been agreed upon by the two entities, earlier in the month, but it was not until recently that VALE’s board of directors gave the go ahead for the sale. It was earlier reported that the company’s balance sheet was a growing concern for Wall Street.
As stated in its 3Q2016 report, VALE had a net debt of $29.14 billion. The company plans to reduce $10 billion of this amount, by next year. Vale’s CEO, Murilo Ferreira, commented that selling of their fertilizer assets was part of their debt reduction plan. The company recently released its financial report for the 3Q2016, beating analyst estimates, when it reported a net profit of $575 million. This was the company’s third quarterly profit in a row, after having posted a FY2015 loss of $12.1 billion.
The current strategy of the company is to become more efficient and improving its balance sheet. Analysts expect that the recent deal with MOS would result in proceeds of around $3.6 billion. Given that Vale has already reduced $1.5 billion debt from its balance sheet, it would seem that more asset sales are to follow, until mid-2017, so as to reach the $10 billion target. However, the company’s finances are not the only problems that Vale has to deal with.
As the company begins working towards restarting work at its joint venture, Samarco, it has stated that Samarco would need to make use of Vale’s neighboring mines, to ensure a long-term future for the project. The JV was initiated with BHP Billiton and was shut down, in the previous year, owing to a dam burst. However, Vale has stated that the two entities are not on the same page, about how to restart the project. The CEO’s of both companies are due to meet this week, in an effort to come to an agreement.
Vale SA (ADR) (NYSE:VALE) recorded a trade volume of 23.96 million and gained 0.29% in terms of its share value, during the October 31, trading session, to close at $6.92 per share.
