Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) announced it had bought a 50% minus one share holding in MMK-Atakas. The transaction amounted to $485m, the company reports. This means MMK can consolidate a 100% shareholding in the company now. The deal will be through by November 1, 2011. The obligatory prerequisite for the transaction is getting all the necessary permits first.

‘Consolidating a 100% share in MMK-Atakas is part of MMK’s strategy aimed at securing our presence of the sprawling markets in Russia and the Middle East, primarily Turkey. This will make running the company even more efficient and will also allow us to benefit fully from the growing and promising Turkish flat stock market,’ says Chairman of MMK BOD Viktor Rashnikov.

The construction of the metallurgical facility in Turkey began in March 2008. The entire facility, whose production capacity comes to 2.3 million tons of flat stock a year, is housed in two production sites in Iskenderun and in Istanbul. The project requires a total of $2.1bn worth of investments.

At the moment, the facility comprises a steel-smelting department, a cold-rolling department, a hot-dip galvanizing unit, a polymeric coating line in Iskenderun and two metal service and maintenance centers in Iskenderun and in Istanbul. The facility also comprise a seaport that can welcome vessels of up to 100,000 tons, which means export and raw materials delivery gets much easier.