German copper extracting company Norddeutsche Affinerie AG has acquired full control of Cumerio, the Belgian parent of Bulgaria-based copper smelter Cumerio Med, for about 770 million euro or 30 euro per share, media reports said.

The parties did not disclose the value of the deal. But a source familiar with the transaction said the German company paid 770 million euro or 30 euro per share.

The merger will create the largest copper smelting company in Europe and the third-largest anode and cathode copper making company in the world with an annual output worth 10 billion euro.

The parties are expected to unveil a new holding concern in June, but it is not yet known whether it will be based in Hamburg, where the largest factory of the new company is based.

Cumerio's largest production facility in Pirdop, Bulgaria, produced 249 000 tonnes of anode copper and 65 000 of cathode copper in 2007.

Cumerio exports about 90 per cent of its production, mainly to Turkey, Greece and the Black Sea region.

The company, which used to get 90 per cent of its raw materials and other inputs from Bulgarian mines four years ago, now sources only 40 per cent of supplies locally, as the plant's capacity increased manifold.

Cumerio has invested 270 million euro into the product process renovation and 80 million euro for environmental upgrades, since its acquisition in 1997.

Cumerio is a new copper company demerged from Umicore (Union Minière in the early 20th century), which was involved in developing mineral resources in Congo and installed a copper refinery in Olen (Belgium).

Although not active in the mining sector, Cumerio's copper facility at its Olen site in Belgium is till one of the most modern refineries.
At the end of 1997, Cumerio acquired the MDK smelter complex in Pirdop, Bulgaria. Its current annual capacity is 240,000 tonnes of anodes of which about 130,000 tonnes are delivered to the Olen refinery in Belgium. Around 60,000 tonnes are refined locally and the balance is sold to various markets in the region.