Indian metals maker Sterlite Industries Ltd said on Friday it raised its offer price for bankrupt U.S. copper miner Asarco to $2.565 billion, Reuters reported. Sterlite, a unit of India-focused mining company Vedanta Resources, has been facing off with Mexican miner Grupo Mexico for the assets of Asarco, which has been under bankruptcy protection since 2005. Last month a U.S. bankruptcy court recommended that Grupo Mexico be allowed to take control of Asarco as it was more likely to pay Asarco's creditors in full.

Satelites Mexicanos SA, the Mexican satellite operator that emerged from bankruptcy in 2006, aims to reach a restructuring agreement with bondholders by the end of the year to ensure it can update an aging satellite fleet, Bloomberg reported. Satmex needs to restructure its debt to make the business “sustainable,” Chief Financial Officer Luis Stein said. Mexico City-based Satmex is seeking funding to replace a satellite launched in 1994 with a newer one that could expand the services it offers.

Grupo Mexico SAB should be allowed to regain control of its bankrupt U.S. copper mining unit, Asarco LLC, by giving creditors almost $2.5 billion, a judge said, rejecting an offer from Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd., Bloomberg reported. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Richard Schmidt today sent his recommendation to a district court judge who will make the final decision about what will happen to Asarco, more than five years after the company filed bankruptcy.

A U.S. federal judge is expected to decide on Monday whether Grupo Mexico or India's Sterlite Industries will control Asarco LLC, bringing the U.S. copper miner a step closer to leaving bankruptcy after four years, Reuters reported. At stake are Asarco's copper mines in Arizona and $7.5 billion in damages related to a piece of Peruvian miner Southern Copper Corp that had been owned by Asarco. Grupo Mexico, the largest copper miner in Mexico, bought Asarco in 1999 but lacks control because of the bankruptcy. A U.S.

Mexican miner Grupo Mexico SAB de CV said on Thursday it has offered to extend for two years the collective bargaining agreement of workers at Asarco LLC, who have supported a rival's bid for control of the bankrupt U.S. copper miner, Reuters reported. Grupo Mexico, which owns but does not control Asarco, has been engaged in a battle with India's Sterlite Industries for over a year for Asarco, which is seeking to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after four years.

The long battle for Asarco LLC may be nearing its conclusion, as the two groups vying for control of the bankrupt U.S. copper miner started their final arguments on Tuesday following a two-week hearing in federal court in Texas, Reuters reported. Mexican miner Grupo Mexico SAB de CV, which owns Asarco but does not control it because of the bankruptcy, and India's Sterlite Industries have been engaged for over a year in a bidding war for Asarco, which is seeking to emerge from Chapter 11 protection after four years.

Mexican miner Grupo Mexico SAB de CV said on Monday it would raise its offer for Asarco LLC to $2.2029 billion in cash, as it battles India's Sterlite Industries for control of the bankrupt U.S. copper miner, Reuters reported. In documents filed with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Corpus Christi, Texas, Grupo Mexico said its offer would include full repayment of administrative, priority, secured and asbestos personal injury claims, as well as payment in full on general unsecured claims.

India's Sterlite Industries and Mexican miner Grupo Mexico squared off in court on Monday and raised their respective bids for bankrupt U.S. copper miner Asarco LLC, which is seeking to end its four-year bankruptcy. Sterlite offered to raise the cash portion of its bid to $1.58 billion, up from $1.1 billion, said Asarco lawyer Jack Kinzie at the start of a court hearing in Texas on Monday. Including a note to creditors with a net present value of $83 million, Sterlite's new bid was worth $1.67 billion, Kinzie told the court.

A flood of objections has come in against the parent company of Asarco LLC, which filed one of three competing reorganization plans for the bankrupt copper mining company, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. The deadline for filing objections to the plan was Wednesday, at which time Asarco told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas that the plan proposed by its parent, Grupo Mexico SAB de CV, was not filed in good faith, not fair and equitable, not feasible, and failed to comply with all provisions necessary to confirm a plan.

A unit of mining giant Grupo Mexico SAB is appealing a ruling that it is on the hook for $1.38 billion in cash and a stake in lucrative Peruvian copper operations to Asarco LLC, in a case alleging Grupo fraudulently shifted the shares, tipping Asarco into bankruptcy, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. Asarco first sued Grupo subsidiary Americas Mining Corp. in February 2007, arguing that Grupo Mexico's 2003 transfer of Asarco's 54.2 percent ownership in Southern Copper Corp., formerly Southern Peru Copper Corp., to AMC was fraudulent.