Techint Group, through its Confab Industrial SA and Ternium SA units, is trying to obtain two syndicated loans totaling as much as USD 1.05 billion to finance the acquisition of a stake in Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA.

Confab, a Brazilian maker of steel tubes controlled by Tenaris SA, a subsidiary of Techint, hired HSBC Holdings Plc as the lead bank in a five year USD 350 million loan.

Luxembourg based Ternium, Latin America's second largest steelmaker, hired HSBC, Banco Santander SA, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc and Credit Agricole SA to lead a separate five year loan of USD 700 million.

The rest of the USD 2.7 billion needed to acquire the stake in Belo Horizonte, Brazil based Usiminas will come from cash on hand.

Techint said in November 2011 that it agreed to pay BRL 5.03 billion for the 27.7% voting stake in Usiminas. The controlling shareholders group, which includes Nippon Steel Corporation, will have 63.9% of voting rights.

Since the announcement, Techint has purchased 139.7 million ordinary shares of Usiminas from Camargo Correa SA, Grupo Votorantim and Usiminas's workers pension using cash on hand a bridge loan from Banco BTG Pactual SA, the adviser for Ternium and Confab, said the people. That loan will be refinanced with the two syndicated loans the company is negotiating.

(Sourced from www.bloomberg.net)