Brazil's Usiminas board calls meeting for capital increase -sources
By Alberto Alerigi
SAO PAULO, March 18 (Reuters) - The board of Brazilian steelmaker Usinas Siderúrgicas de Minas Gerais SA decided on Friday to call a shareholder meeting on April 18 to discuss a 1 billion-real ($278 million) capital increase proposed by Japan's Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Corp, two sources with knowledge of the decision said.
The board, in a majority vote, approved that the assembly would only discuss Nippon Steel's proposal, said one of the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss the matter.
The Brazilian company's controlling shareholders, Nippon Steel and Techint Group, are at odds over management in Usiminas, as the steelmaker is known.
Techint is considering whether to call another shareholders' meeting to discuss its own proposal for a capital injection of 500 million reals and use cash from a unit to help ease cash needs, said another source.
(Writing by Tatiana Bautzer)
