Toronto-headquartered Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, U.S.-based Covington & Burling, Herbert Smith Freehills and King & Wood Mallesons have advised China Molybdenum Co (CMOC) in a $2.65 billion deal to buy mining giant Freeport-McMoRan’s majority stake in investment firm TF Holding, which has an indirect 56 percent stake in the Tenke Fungurume mine, a copper mine located in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Meanwhile, Davis Polk & Wardwell is representing Freeport in the transaction, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2016. The deal also includes an agreement between Freeport and CMOC to negotiate exclusively on the sale of Freeport's holdings in Freeport Cobalt – including the Kokkola Cobalt Refinery in Finland for $100 million and and DRC’s Kisanfu Exploration project for $50 million – until December 31.

Partners Marc Kushner, Paul Seraganian, Andrew Herr and Shuli Rodal handled the transaction for Osler, which served as lead counsel. HSF’s deal team is overseeing the deal from Paris and Johannesburg, led by Africa practice co-chairs Stéphane Brabant and Peter Leon and supported by fellow partners Bertrand Montembault, Rebecca Major and Emma Rohsler. 

The Davis Polk corporate team includes partners Marc O. Williams, Kathleen L. Ferrell and Edmond T. FitzGerald in New York as well as Howard Zhang in Beijing.

This is the second large global acquisition announced by CMOC in the last two weeks. In April, CMOC agreed to buy Brazilian assets from London-based mining company Anglo American for $1.5 billion.

Hong Kong-listed CMOC is primarily engaged in the mining and processing, smelting, deep processing, trade as well as research and development of molybdenum, tungsten, gold and other precious metals.