PHOENIX — Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., one of the world's top copper miners, will sell its wire and cable business to help pay for its $25.9 billion acquisition earlier this year of Phoenix-based Phelps Dodge Corp., the company announced Wednesday.
General Cable Corp. will buy the wire and cable business, Phelps Dodge International Corp., for $735 million. Freeport said it plans to use net proceeds of about $620 million to repay debt.
As of the second quarter, Freeport had paid off all but $2.45 billion of its original $10 billion term loan debt from the Phelps Dodge acquisition, spokesman William Collier said.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
Highland Heights, Ky.-based General Cable, which makes aluminum, copper, and fiber-optic wires and cables, said it would offer up to $450 million worth of senior convertible notes to fund part of the deal. The notes will be convertible into stock, cash or a combination of both.
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The company also said that in addition to available cash, it has secured an increased line of credit and an interim loan from Merrill Lynch Capital Corp.
General Cable said it may also use part of the proceeds from its notes offering to fund potential domestic or international expansion, for other acquisitions and for other general corporate purposes.
Freeport CEO Richard C. Adkerson told The Associated Press in June that he wanted to sell some assets to help pay for Phelps Dodge. Besides the wire and cable business, Adkerson said he might sell the company's Henderson mine in Colorado.
Freeport through its remaining Phelps Dodge mining and smelting operations is one of Southern Arizona's top 10 employers, with more than 4,100 employees in the region, according to the Star 200 survey of major employers in the region.
The company operates the Sierrita mine near Green Valley, a mine and smelter in the Globe-Miami area, a mine in Morenci and it is developing a $550 million mine and plant in Safford scheduled to open next year.