* Bidders extend offer to Sept. 11
* No rush to sell non-core assets - sources
* New group will refocus on Kazakh assets - sources
By Clara Ferreira-Marques
LONDON, Aug 29 (Reuters) - The founders of troubled Kazakhminer ENRC, leading a $4.8 billion bid to take thecompany private, said on Thursday a majority of small investorshad backed the offer, taking acceptances to 94.5 percent.
That all but guarantees success for the trio of billionaireswho founded ENRC, as they prepare to refocus the group on itscore Kazakh ferroalloy and iron ore operations, slash debt andreverse a $6 billion expansion drive into Africa and beyond.
Taking ENRC private will draw a line under six turbulentyears for the group as a London-listed firm, plagued byboardroom rows, corporate governance concerns and corruptioninvestigations.
Sources with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday thebidders would move key administrative functions to Kazakhstanand refocus ENRC on ferroalloy and iron ore assets there as wellas operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo - the heart ofpotentially lucrative African copperbelt assets that thefounders intend to keep.
But they would not rush into a firesale of costlydevelopment assets that include a greenfield coal project inMozambique - close to Rio Tinto's problematic Riversdaleasset that triggered an almost $3 billion writedown earlier thisyear - and an iron ore project in Brazil, the sources said.
ENRC's new owners will seek to cut back the company's hefty$5.5 billion debt burden. But there was little pressure for thatfrom lenders funding the bidders themselves - the trio have notyet received any cash, one of the sources said.
"They will have quite a few things to deal with when theytake over. Selling the assets isn't going to be the first thingthey will do," the source said.
Miners have put billions of dollars of non-core mines andprojects on the block, but sales of all but the most covetedassets have been slow, as sellers hold out and buyers focus onkey commodities, seeking bargains.
The trio of billionaire founders, Alexander Machkevitch,Alijan Ibragimov and Pathokh Chodiev, working with the Kazakhgovernment, already had the support of ENRC's largestshareholder, rival Kazakhmys, after a vote this month.
They said on Thursday, after the first deadline foracceptances on Aug. 28, that small shareholders accounting for14.6 percent of stock, had also taken up the offer.
Including a 26-percent stake held by Kazakhmys and almost 54percent held by the government of Kazakhstan and the foundersthemselves, that takes acceptances to 94.5 percent.
The buyout deal is still awaiting final antitrust clearance.Remaining shareholders have until Sept. 11 to accept the bid.
The offer, $2.65 in cash plus 0.23 of a Kazakhmys share forevery ENRC share, is worth about 241 pence per share at currentprices. ENRC shares were trading around 227 pence on Thursday.