CSR Limited announced today that it had finalised the saleof its investment in the contract mining group Downer Group Ltd for a total of$A59 million, about A$5 million over book value.

CSR has been progressively selling its stake of 79 millionDowner shares since early September.The sale was completed yesterday when a parcel of 44 million shares wassold to various local institutions, in conjunction with an equity placement byDowner.

The investment - which originally comprised around $A15million in ordinary shares and $A35 million in convertible notes, with a couponrate of 8% p.a. -was part of theproceeds to CSR from the divestment of its contract mining and civilcontracting business to Downer in February 1999.Total proceeds, including the sale of the Downer investment, arenow around A$140 million.

“We are in the final stages of our transformation to aninternational building materials group and the sale of the Downer investment isa further step in the process,” said managing director & CEO, Peter Kirby.“The original A$135 million saleto Downer was satisfactory, and we are pleased that we have been able todeliver further value for CSR shareholders by holding this investment for aperiod.

“The Downer Group has performed well over the past twoyears and we wish managing director, Stephen Gillies, and his team well for thefuture.”