TORONTO (Reuters) - Teck Cominco
Teck announced several cost-cutting measures on Thursday designed to help it pay down a $5.8 billion bridge loan by next October. It used the loan to finance its $13 billion acquisition of Fording Coal.
"We'd be pretty reluctant to take ourselves completely out of what we view as our core assets, but selling a minority interest wouldn't be an unreasonable approach," said Greg Waller, the company's vice-president of investor relations and strategic analysis.
He said that putting the company itself up for sale would "rank very very low on the list of steps we would take."
The measures announced on Thursday -- which the company said will save it C$1.3 billion -- include withdrawing from the Petaquilla copper project in Panama, selling Teck's stake in the Lobo Marte gold project in Chile, and suspending dividend payments for 2009.
($1=$1.28 Canadian)
(Reporting by Cameron French; Editing by Peter Galloway)
© Reuters Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction or redistribution of Reuters content, including framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
