Brazil's competition authority has confirmed it is looking into Anglo American plc 's plan to sell its nickel operation in the country.
Cade, the country's main antitrust body, said it had responded to a complaint over the $500m deal Anglo agreed in February with MMG Singapore Resources, which is part of China-backed MMG.
"Based on a complaint received, an Administrative Procedure for Investigating an Act of Economic Concentration was instituted," Cade told the Financial Times which first reported the story.
The newspaper also cited a person with direct knowledge of the matter as saying CoreX Holding, a conglomerate established by Turkish investor Robert Yildirim, lodged the objection to the deal. CoreX is a direct competitor in the region, having agreed in July to buy a ferronickel mine in Colombia for up to $100m.
Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com