Usmanov to buy $100 mln stake in Australia's Strike

MOSCOW, July 28 (Reuters) - Russian metals billionaire Alisher Usmanov will invest $100 million in Strike Resources Ltd (SRK.AX) via a share placement to help the Australian miner finance iron ore projects in Peru, both parties said on Monday. Gallagher Holdings Ltd, Usmanov's investment company, will subscribe to 37.5 million shares issued by Strike Resources at a price of 2.75 Australian dollars ($2.63) each, giving Usmanov a more than 20 percent stake in the Perth-based company.

The funds will be used to develop Strike's Apurimac Ferrum project in Peru, which the company says could produce 20 million tonnes of iron ore per year, and will accelerate the Cuzco Lump project, which is scheduled to produce 1-2 million tonnes per year from 2009 or 2010.

"Strike Resources has access to some of the biggest iron ore deposits in Peru. We're glad of the opportunity to invest in this strategically important project and accelerate work on the deposits," Gallagher Chairman Farhad Moshiri said in comments emailed to Reuters.

Global iron ore prices have quadrupled in the last five years as China, producer of a third of the world's steel, devours ever more raw materials.

Usmanov, ranked Russia's 19th-richest man by Forbes magazine, founded and co-owns Metalloinvest, which produces about 40 percent of Russia's iron ore from the country's two largest mines.

Strike Resources said the price agreed with Gallagher was at a 39 percent premium to its closing price on July 24 and at a 33 percent premium to the weighted average price of its shares over the month preceding Monday's announcement.

The company said it would place the shares in two tranches. The first, for 18.1 million shares, would raise A$49.7 million ($47.6 million) and the second, for 19.4 million, would raise A$53.4 million ($51.2 million), it said.

Moshiri, Gallagher's chairman, will join the board at Strike Resources. The company's shares traded up 3.8 percent to A$2.05 on Monday. (Reporting by Robin Paxton and Polina Devitt; Editing by David Cowell)