The owner of the Sydvaranger iron ore mines in Kirkenes, Australian Northern Iron has received bids from Russian and Indian companies, as BarentsObserver reported. The Swiss-registered, Russian-owned company Prominvest has offered €1.21 per share in Northern Iron, valuing the company to €449.3 million. The other bid comes from the Indian company Aditya Birling Group, which has offered €1.19 per share, after their bid of €1.05-1.10 per share was rejected by Northern Iron in May.
“This is the right time for Norwegian or Northern investors to strike”, Chief Union Representative for the workers at Sydvaranger Gruver Henning Bråten says to Arbeidsmanden. He mentions Leonhard Nilsen & Sønner (LNS) and Store Norske as companies that hold both the necessary capital and knowledge.
Bråten believes that any change in ownership of the mines will have little direct impact on the workers’ daily life: “Sydvaranger Gruver is a Norwegian registered company, and the owners have to follow our tariff agreements and Norwegian rules and regulations”.
The most important thing for the mine is that the owners are industrial. “The owners of Sydvaranger Gruver should be interested in running the mines, not stock jobbing”, he says.
