HONG KONG, May 9 (Reuters) - China Molybdenum Co Ltd 603993.SS halted trading in its shares on Monday ahead of the release of an announcement of a "very substantial acquisition," the company said in an exchange filing.
The halt comes after the company late last month agreed to pay $1.5 billion in cash to buy Anglo American 's AAL.L niobium and phosphates business in Brazil. China Molybdenum is one of the country's largest producers of molybdenum, used in making alloys.
Shares in China Molybdenum 3993.HK , which has a market value of about $7.5 billion, fell 4.7 percent in Hong Kong before the suspension. The company made its first overseas foray in 2013 by buying a majority stake in Rio Tinto Ltd's RIO.L RIO.AX Northparkes copper mine in Australia for $820 million.
China Molybdenum told the Financial Times last week it had more than $4 billion available to buy assets as is looked to expand its international business. The report quoted executive chairman Steele Lie as saying the commodities cycle had bottomed out.
A slide in commodity prices has forced several large miners to sell prime assets in order to cut high levels of debt.