Atlas to waste $2m, page-35

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/bu...s/news-story/af5e64c80ccc3251c1cc9f354159aa87

Article from The Australian about AGO defending its move just out



Atlas Iron has defended its decision to launch an unmarketable-parcel share sale in the middle of its takeover offer from Mineral Resources, with the company forecasting savings of “several hundred thousand dollars” in administrative costs as a result of the process.

The Perth-based company, which is subject of a $280 million, 3c-per-share offer from MinRes, announced on Tuesday it had appointed Patersons Securities to lead a sale of unmarketable shareholdings on its register.

Almost 17,000 of the 31,650 shareholders on Atlas’s register hold shares worth less than $500 in total. Thousands of holdings are worth less than $20 in total, a legacy of its days as a multi-billion-dollar ASX 100-listed company with a share price of more than $4.

Atlas will today confirm that it will not be advancing any of its funds to Patersons as part of the process, and detail what promises to be significant savings in printing, postage and administrative costs as a result of the move.

MinRes’s bid has already drawn vocal opposition from pockets of the Atlas register, and the structure of the takeover as a scheme of arrangement — which requires both 75 per cent of shares and more than 50 per cent of individual shareholders to vote in favour of the deal — has fuelled hopes that a rebellion of small individual holders could scuttle the deal.

It is understood that printing and mailing scheme booklets is likely to cost about $50 to $60 per shareholder, or in excess of the dollar value of thousands of individual Atlas shareholdings.

Holders of the smaller stakes will have to opt out of the process if they want to hold on to their positions. Small shareholders who take no action will have their shares bundled up and sold off on their behalf by Patersons.

MinRes chief Chris Ellison warned after the launch of the offer that Atlas was “on palliative care” and would die a slow death without a change in its situation.

In its recent quarterly, Atlas revealed that operational losses had widened and cash on hand had fallen from $71m to $64m