Vale to sell some VLI shares to Brookfield for $842 mln
BRASILIA, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Brazilian iron ore miner Vale said on Monday it agreed to sell a 26.5 percent stake in logistics company VLI SA to Canada's Brookfield Asset Management for 2 billion reais ($842.78 million).
After the sale, which still needs approval from Brazilian regulatory authorities, Vale will have a 37.6 percent stake in the rail- and port-cargo unit, the company said in a securities filling.
In September, Vale announced plans to sell control of VLI to Brookfield, Tokyo-based trading company Mitsui Co and Brazil's FGTS worker compensation and retirement fund in a transaction expected to be worth about 4 billion reais.
The VLI unit comprises Vale's general cargo operations, or operations not directly related to the movement of Vale's own output of iron ore and other minerals.
The sale will free Vale from some of the burden of keeping and expanding non-core freight operations, which the government had pushed the company to assume in recent years.
The company said the sale is part of its strategy to divest in non-core assets.
