JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African aluminium-products maker Hulamin (J:HLMJ) said on Monday it was part of a group which had signed a deal to buy a casthouse from BHP Billiton (AX:BHP) (J:BILJ), sending its shares higher.
BHP, the world's biggest mining company, sold its Richards Bay, Bayside casthouse to Isizinda Aluminium, which is 40 percent owned by Hulamin and 60 percent held by black investment group Bingelela Capital. The deal value was not disclosed.
South Africa's government wants local companies to play a bigger role in developing its natural resources.
BHP will supply the casthouse with 96,000 tonnes of liquid metal from its nearby smelter for 10 billion rand (582 million pounds) over the next five years, the company said.
"The sale of the casthouse reflects our vision to grow the downstream industry in South Africa and to contribute to the transformation of the economy in Richards Bay," BHP's chief executive elect Graham Kerr told reporters in Johannesburg.
Kerr declined to say if any other South African assets would be sold-off.
Shares in Hulamin were up by 4 percent at 1048 GMT, having earlier surged 10 percent. BHP shares trading on the Johannesburg bourse fell nearly 2 percent.
BHP closed its Bayside smelter operation in June after "significant financial pressure" but the casthouse operations continued to operate with aluminium from the neighbouring Hillside smelter.
(Reporting by Peroshni Govender; Writing by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by Joe Brock)