According to a Monday report from Forbes, Brazilian mining giant Vale is planning to sell partial stakes in its steel, coal and fertilizer businesses in order to reduce costs and decrease capital spending. The steel stake up for grabs is the company's minority interest (a 26.9 percent stake) in Brazilian steel plant CSA, which is majority-owned by ThyssenKrupp (the recently-announced sale of Thyssenkrupp's Calvert, Alabama facility uses primarily steel slabs produced at CSA). The plant started operations in 2010 but has yet to turn a profit due to reported cost overruns and technical difficulties.
Combined with Vale's recent announcement that it would spend less on investments in 2014, the move is part of the company's plan to focus on its core iron ore business.
