China in talks for Kazakhstan’s mega project in Brazil

China’s Mota-Engil in talks to acquire ERG’s Bamin project in Brazil / Photo: Shutterstock, photo editor: Dastan Shanay

The Portuguese company Mota-Engil, whose main shareholders include China Communications Construction Co. (CCCC), is in talks to buy the Brazilian mining company Bamin, which is owned by Kazakhstan’s Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), sources told the Brazilian outlet Valor International.

Bamin’s Brazilian concession

Bamin holds a concession for a section of Brazil’s West-East Integration Railway in the northeastern state of Bahia, as well as a mining asset in the same state, and has plans to build a port in the city of Ilhéus.

In April 2021, Bamin won the contract to build the first section of the Fiol 1 railway. However, construction on the segment — intended to connect the cities of Caetité and Ilhéus — has not yet begun, according to Valor.

Failure linked to Ukraine war

In recent months, Bamin representatives have attributed their failure to meet contractual obligations to the economic fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine on ERG.

ERG was founded in the 1990s by Alijan Ibragimov, Patokh Chodiev, and Alexander Mashkevich. Each of the three founding families currently controls about 20% of the company, while the remaining 40% is owned by the government of Kazakhstan.

Notably, Kursiv.media previously reported that businessman Shakhmurat Mutalip, owner of construction group Integra Construction KZ, plans to acquire 40% of ERG from Chodiev and the heirs of Mashkevich.