Bloomberg reports Grupo Mexico must return $1.3 billion to Southern Copper Corp. for forcing the unit to overpay for Minera México, a Delaware judge ruled.
The court found that the terms of the 2005 merger was unfair to Southern Copper which mines copper and silver in Peru and Mexico. The court determined that Minera Mexico, at the time the second richest copper miner after Chile’s Codelco, was only worth $2.43 billion and not the $3.75 billion Southern Copper paid.
Grupo Mexico holds more than 80% of Southern Copper and is in the process of merging the company with its Asarco mining unit.
Businessweek reports “A focused, aggressive controller extracted a deal that was far better than market,” Delaware Chancery Court Chief Judge Leo Strine wrote in a 106-page opinion on Oct. 14.
Grupo Mexico said it will appeal as the Court’s decision “imposes rules making this type of operation impossible.”
Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE:SCCO) ended Monday down 3% in a generally weak market to bring its market valuation to $23.2 billion. Grupo Mexico’s US-listed stock (PINK:GMBXF) meanwhile ended down 4.9%.
