Mittal Steel South Africa signed a contract on Friday to purchase the assets of two ruined engineering companies in Mozambique, reports reaching in Luanda on Saturday.

Mozambique News Agency reported from the country's capital Maputo on Saturday that Mittal agreed to pay 11.4 million U.S. dollars for the steel rolling mill CSM and the wire-drawing company Trefil.

Mittal has only bought the assets, not the companies. The debts problem of the CSM and Trefil is being dealt with separately, the report said

Portuguese businessman Antonio Simoes's company bought 60 percent holdings of the two companies when they were privatized 15 years ago, but never provided the promised investment. As a result, both companies came to a halt. The CSM has been completely paralyzed for five years, and Trefil for a year.

Mittal negotiated Friday's deal with the Mozambican government's Institute for the Management of State Holdings as the state still owned 40 percent of the two companies.

Source: Xinhua