OREANDA-NEWS. July 23, 2012. Vale informs that it has signed a share purchase agreement to sell its manganese ferroalloys operations in Europe to subsidiaries of Glencore International Plc., a company listed on the London and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges, for USD  160 million in cash, subject to the fulfillment of certain precedent conditions.

The manganese ferroalloys operations in Europe consist of: (a) 100% of Vale Manganese France SAS, located in Dunkerque, France; and (b) 100% of Vale Manganese Norway AS, located in Mo I Rana, Norway.

The sale of the manganese ferroalloys operations in Europe is part of our continuous efforts to optimize the asset portfolio. Vale's growth and sustainable value creation strategy encompasses a multilane road, in which active portfolio asset management is a very important tool to optimize capital allocation and focus management attention.