Mexico billionaire Larrea testifies in Asarco case
BROWNSVILLE, Texas, June 10 (Reuters) - German Larrea, one of Mexico's richest men and head of Grupo Mexico (GMEXICOB.MX), on Tuesday defended himself in a U.S. court against claims he was part of a scheme that helped push miner Asarco LLC into bankruptcy.
Larrea, chief executive officer of Mexico's top copper producer and head of its Americas Mining Corp unit, is accused by Asarco of stripping the bankrupt Arizona mining concern of a valuable stake in Southern Peru Copper Corp.
"I believed at that time, and I still believe today, it was the best way to proceed and to protect Asarco," Larrea told the court in heavily accented English.
Asarco, a wholly owned subsidiary of Americas Mining Corp, is suing its parent in U.S. District Court in Brownsville, Texas, saying the 2003 transfer of its stake in Southern Peru Copper to Americas Mining pushed Asarco toward insolvency.
Still, the media-shy Larrea defended his actions under hours of questioning from lawyers.
"The goal was to solve all the financial problems in the best way that we could," he said.
In court papers, lawyers for Asarco argued that Americas Mining Corp and Grupo Mexico made no effort to solicit bids for Asarco's 54.2 percent ownership in Southern Peru Copper because their real intent was to defraud Asarco's creditors.
Asarco, which owns three copper mines in Arizona, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2005 after it was sued for $1 billion over environmental clean-up and asbestos claims.
Sterlite Industries (STRL.BO) (SLT.N), an Indian unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc (VED.L), said this month it would buy the operating assets of Asarco in an all-cash $2.6 billion deal. Grupo Mexico vowed to block the deal. (Reporting by Aaron Nelsen, writing by Anna Driver in Houston; Editing by Braden Reddall)
