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Friday, 12 June 2009
OZ Minerals shareholders approve US$1.39b asset sale to China Minmetals Group
Shareholders of OZ Minerals Ltd yesterday approved a plan to sell US$1.39 billion of assets to China Minmetals Group to cut debt after the Chinese company sweetened its offer on Wednesday to fend off rival proposals.
OZ Minerals shareholders approve US$1.39b asset sale to China Minmetals Group
(SYDNEY) Shareholders of OZ Minerals Ltd yesterday approved a plan to sell US$1.39 billion of assets to China Minmetals Group to cut debt after the Chinese company sweetened its offer on Wednesday to fend off rival proposals.
About 92 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of the motion at the Melbourne-based company’s annual general meeting in the city yesterday, OZ Minerals said in a statement. The approval required a minimum of 50 per cent of acceptances.
Minmetals, China’s biggest metals trader, gains control of the world’s second-biggest zinc mine and supplies of copper, gold and nickel. The acquisition may ease Chinese concern about investment in Australia after Rio Tinto Group scrapped a US$19.5 billion investment by Aluminum Corp of China last week in favour of an iron venture with BHP Billiton Ltd.
The sale ‘secures the future of our current operations for the benefit of all stakeholders’, Oz chairman Barry Cusack said yesterday at the meeting.
OZ Minerals shares were halted yesterday. The stock fell 2.2 per cent to 89 cents on Wednesday on the Australian stock exchange, giving it a market value of A$2.8 billion (S$3.3 billion). The company says it’s seeking to complete the sale by June 18.
State-controlled Minmetals on Wednesday raised its offer by US$180 million, or 15 per cent, after OZ Minerals this week said it had received two alternative proposals. The offer ‘provides an extremely positive conclusion for shareholders’, Minmetals said.
OZ Minerals will use the funds from the sale to pay A$1.1 billion in debt and help finance exploration and expansion at its Prominent Hill mine in South Australia and other projects in the country and overseas. The A$1.2 billion Prominent Hill operation will now be the company’s primary source of revenue.
Two unsolicited recapitalisation proposals, including a US$1.2 billion plan by RFC Group and Royal Bank of Canada, were inferior to the Minmetals bid, OZ Minerals said on Monday. RFC Group and RBC Capital Markets’s recapitalisation plan was due to expire at 5pm local time yesterday.
The party behind the second proposal advised OZ Minerals that it would not ‘provide any new or revised recapitalisation proposal’, OZ Minerals said yesterday. Macquarie Group Ltd withdrew a US$1.4 billion proposal to recapitalise OZ Minerals through the issue of 2.54 billion OZ shares, The Australian newspaper said.
Minmetals was blocked from a full takeover of OZ Minerals by Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan in March because of the Prominent Hill mine’s proximity to the Woomera weapon testing range\. \-- Bloomberg
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OZ Minerals shareholders approve US$1.39b asset sale to China Minmetals Group
(SYDNEY) Shareholders of OZ Minerals Ltd yesterday approved a plan to sell US$1.39 billion of assets to China Minmetals Group to cut debt after the Chinese company sweetened its offer on Wednesday to fend off rival proposals.
About 92 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of the motion at the Melbourne-based company’s annual general meeting in the city yesterday, OZ Minerals said in a statement. The approval required a minimum of 50 per cent of acceptances.
Minmetals, China’s biggest metals trader, gains control of the world’s second-biggest zinc mine and supplies of copper, gold and nickel. The acquisition may ease Chinese concern about investment in Australia after Rio Tinto Group scrapped a US$19.5 billion investment by Aluminum Corp of China last week in favour of an iron venture with BHP Billiton Ltd.
The sale ‘secures the future of our current operations for the benefit of all stakeholders’, Oz chairman Barry Cusack said yesterday at the meeting.
OZ Minerals shares were halted yesterday. The stock fell 2.2 per cent to 89 cents on Wednesday on the Australian stock exchange, giving it a market value of A$2.8 billion (S$3.3 billion). The company says it’s seeking to complete the sale by June 18.
State-controlled Minmetals on Wednesday raised its offer by US$180 million, or 15 per cent, after OZ Minerals this week said it had received two alternative proposals. The offer ‘provides an extremely positive conclusion for shareholders’, Minmetals said.
OZ Minerals will use the funds from the sale to pay A$1.1 billion in debt and help finance exploration and expansion at its Prominent Hill mine in South Australia and other projects in the country and overseas. The A$1.2 billion Prominent Hill operation will now be the company’s primary source of revenue.
Two unsolicited recapitalisation proposals, including a US$1.2 billion plan by RFC Group and Royal Bank of Canada, were inferior to the Minmetals bid, OZ Minerals said on Monday. RFC Group and RBC Capital Markets’s recapitalisation plan was due to expire at 5pm local time yesterday.
The party behind the second proposal advised OZ Minerals that it would not ‘provide any new or revised recapitalisation proposal’, OZ Minerals said yesterday. Macquarie Group Ltd withdrew a US$1.4 billion proposal to recapitalise OZ Minerals through the issue of 2.54 billion OZ shares, The Australian newspaper said.
Minmetals was blocked from a full takeover of OZ Minerals by Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan in March because of the Prominent Hill mine’s proximity to the Woomera weapon testing range\. \-- Bloomberg
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