Antofagasta to sell water business to Colombia's EPM for $965 mln

SANTIAGO, April 23 (Reuters) - Chilean miner Antofagasta Plc (Other OTC: ANFGF - news) said it had agreed to sell its water utility business Aguas de Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO.L - news) (Adasa) for $965 milion to Colombia's Empresas Publicas de Medellin.

Adasa supplies drinking water and water treatment services to 162,000 clients in northern Chile, including the mining-centred towns of Antofagasta and Calama, the London-listed company said in a statement on Thursday.

"This will allow us to focus our efforts and investments on new mining projects, especially in the Antofagasta region," said chief executive Diego Hernandez.

Colombia's EPM is a utilities firm with businesses throughout central and south America.

(Reporting by Rosalba O'Brien; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)