The board of Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional SA, has approved a strategic alliance between the company and a consortium of Asian partners, according to a Friday securities filing.

The Asian consortium includes Japan's Itochu, Nisshin Steel Co. Ltd, JFE Steel and Kobe Steel, as well as Korea's Posco and Taiwan's China Steel Corp., the filing said.

The deal, originally announced last month, aims to merge the firms' mining and logistics businesses to create a major ore exporter.