OREANDA-NEWS. November 02, 2012. Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui") hereby announces that, pursuant to the short-term bridge loan agreement signed in August 2012, Mitsui has entered into a new loan agreement with Corporacion Nacional del Cobre de Chile ("Codelco") that replaces the existing short-term bridge loan extended to Codelco's subsidiary and that it has acquired an additional 15.25% share of Inversiones Mineras Acrux SpA ("Acrux"), a joint venture company between Mitsui and Codelco that owns 29.5% share of Anglo American Sur S.A. ("Anglo Sur").

The New Loan Agreement
 On August 23, 2012, Mitsui, through its subsidiary, extended a USD 1.9 billion short-term bridge loan to Codelco's subsidiary for the acquisition of 24.5% share of Anglo Sur. Pursuant to this short-term bridge loan agreement, Mitsui and Codelco entered into a new loan agreement to repay a part of the short-term bridge loan by the 15.25% share of Acrux and to convert the remaining USD 0.9 billion to a 20-year term loan. These events are scheduled to take place on November 26, 2012 (Japan time).

Additional Acquisition of Acrux Shares
 Pursuant to the new loan agreement, Mitsui will acquire an additional 15.25% share of Acrux on November 26, 2012. Consequently, Mitsui's cumulative shareholding of Acrux will reach 32.20%.

Through these series of transactions, Mitsui hopes to further strengthen its close business relationship with Codelco.

Mitsui is currently reviewing the impact of the transactions on its consolidated financial results of the fiscal year ending March 2013.