Anglo Says It Will Complete $5.5 Billion Acquisition

July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Anglo American Plc, the world's fourth-biggest diversified mining company, will complete the $5.5 billion purchase of two Brazilian iron-ore mines by Aug. 5 after being delayed by a police probe. Eike Batista, the mines' controlling shareholder, is being investigated for alleged gold smuggling and fraudulently winning a railroad concession. Batista said July 14 the accusations were ``false and totally unfounded.'' The billionaire offered to compensate Anglo for any losses resulting from the probe, the London-based company said today in a statement. ``I apologize for stress created by this operation,'' Batista told investors on a conference call today. ``But we are coming out of this stronger.'' Anglo agreed in March to buy 70 percent of MMX Mineracao e Metalicos SA's Amapa iron-ore mine and the 51 percent stake it didn't already own in the Minas-Rio project. The price of the steelmaking raw material has risen to a record this year, bolstered by Asian demand. Batista's MMX will complete its sale of the majority stake in IronX Mineracao SA to Anglo on Aug. 5. Anglo will then have 30 days to offer to buy out minority investors in IronX and 60 days to wrap up that transaction, Batista said in the call. IronX, which started trading in Sao Paulo today, was spun off from MMX earlier this year and owns the assets that Anglo is buying. Police Raid Brazil's Federal Police raided Batista's home and offices on July 11 as part of an investigation into alleged fraud in the granting of rights to run a railroad in Amapa state. The combined market value of Batista's MMX, OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes SA and MPX Energia SA tumbled as much as 9.79 billion reais ($6.2 billion) after the raid. ``Bombastic news such as this tends to have an effect on stocks,'' Ricardo Antunes, president of LLX Logistica SA, which was also spun off from MMX, said today in an interview in Sao Paulo. ``We are very confident that the upward trajectory of the group's stocks will return, because the group is absolutely transparent and we don't have the slightest doubt that everything being raised will be cleared up.'' MMX shares climbed 1.26 reais, or 8.3 percent, to 16.45 reais at 3:43 p.m. in Sao Paulo trading, while OGX rose 4.5 percent to 722 reais. MMX, which this month acquired the rights to the Bom Sucesso deposit in Brazil's Minas Gerais state, expects to produce about 40 million metric tons of the raw material by 2013. MMX ``is now bigger than what we sold,'' Batista said.