BlueScope Steel Ltd said today that it is amenable to a Federal Court decision to hear its abuse of process claims against Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings (CKI), where the steel maker is accused of misleading CKI when it sought to acquire an iron sands mine subsidiary of the company in 2008 worth $190 million.

Also, CKI filed a separate suit against BlueScope and Merrill Lynch, alleging that the two entities knowingly put the mine on the market despite their advance knowledge of possible sale stoppage by the mine's main client once the deal is finalised.

A BlueScope representative said that while the company welcomes Justice Foster's decision to hear the case, "BlueScope strongly denies the allegations made by CKI and will be rigorously defending itself in the Federal Court of Australia."

The company said that the CKI's claims were mere vexatious attempts to re-litigate issues already decided in New Zealand, as it argued that CKI already signed into the case's share purchase agreement "where it agreed that any disputes in connection with the agreement would be determined by way of arbitration in New Zealand," BlueScope said."

BlueScope said that it was surprised to learn that CKI now seeks to circumvent the confidential arbitration process for its own reasons as it denied at the same time that the company deliberately engaged in a deceptive manner on its business with CKI.

The company maintained that CKI was guilty of breach of contract and violated its obligations confidentiality as stipulated in the share purchase agreement and as a result, was not entitled to any form of relief.

BlueScope said that the suit against the company is nothing but plain abuse of process and must be immediately dismissed.