Brazil starts probe into $500m Anglo nickel sale - report

(Sharecast News) - Brazil's competition authority has confirmed it is looking into Anglo American's plan to sell its nickel operation in the country. Cade, the country's main antitrust body, said it had responded to a complaint over the $500m deal Anglo agreed in February with MMG Singapore Resources, which is part of China-backed MMG.

"Based on a complaint received, an Administrative Procedure for Investigating an Act of Economic Concentration was instituted," Cade told the Financial Times which first reported the story.

The newspaper also cited a person with direct knowledge of the matter as saying CoreX Holding, a conglomerate established by Turkish investor Robert Yildirim, lodged the objection to the deal. CoreX is a direct competitor in the region, having agreed in July to buy a ferronickel mine in Colombia for up to $100m.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com