Report: Cliffs Resources Moves Toward Asset Sales

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.

spiked Wednesday on news that it hired investment bankers to help it sell non-core assets. The Cleveland-based iron and coal-mining company will put its Appalachian coal assets and Australian iron mines on the block, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Deutsche Bank got hired to sell the coal assets and Jefferies Group LLC to sell its Australian assets, according to the report. Insiders at Cliffs last month lost a proxy battle with hedge fund Casablanca Capital LP, which wants the company to divest everything but its core U.S. iron ore operations -- five mines in Minnesota and Michigan. The newly installed Chief Executive Lourenco Goncalves last month appeared to nix a spin-off of international operations and said instead he'd be interested in their sale. The company has been beset by falling prices for iron ore and coal, and recently launched a $200 million share buyback, saying it will modify its debt agreements to pay for the plan. Cliffs briefly hit $15.27 a share earlier Wednesday. Recently it traded at $14.43, down 0.1 percent.