KUALA LUMPUR (April 8): Lion Industries Corp Bhd, which is disposing of its hot briquetted iron (HBI) plant to Esteel Enterprise Pte Ltd, said the buyer had fully paid the final adjusted consideration of US$165.63 million (RM697.74 million).

Lion Industries’ 99%-owned unit Amsteel Mills Sdn Bhd first entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement with Esteel in October 2021, with an initial price tag of US$158.82 million for Antara, together with additional assets in Labuan.

Lion Industries said the total proceeds were higher than initial indication due to a change in the date of the closing account to Dec 10, 2021, from Sept 30, 2021; as well as differences in the foreign exchange rate.

Proceeds from the sale will be used by Lion Industries for, among others, start-up cost for its flat steel assets (RM150 million). Lion Industries acquired some assets of Megasteel Sdn Bhd in 2018 and 2019, as part of the latters’ restructuring exercise.

Other proceeds include for working capital (RM200 million and another RM50 million), funding requirement for steel or property-related business (RM190.3 million), and proposed acquisition of a direct reduced iron plant (DRI plant) that previously belonged to Lion DRI Sdn Bhd (RM40.8 million).

Shares of Lion Industries rose 1.5 sen or 2.48% to 62 sen on Friday (April 8), giving the group a market capitalisation of RM441.46 million.