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Legacy Iron Ore Says India's NMDC To Acquire 50% Of Company

16/12/2011 1:42PM

PERTH (Dow Jones)--Shareholders of Legacy Iron Ltd. (LCY.AU) on Friday approved an A$18.9 million share placement to India's NMDC Ltd. (536371.BY) that will see the state-run iron ore producer emerge with 50% of the Australian company.

Approval by shareholders was the last remaining obstacle to the deal after NMDC gained clearance last Friday from Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board.

However, support wasn't unanimous after Legacy non-executive director Tao Han voted his stake, amounting to roughly 14% of the company, against the resolutions.

Chief Executive John Hebenton played down the protest vote, saying NMDC's backing will open up funding opportunities for the company's Mount Bevan iron ore deposit in Western Australia.

Legacy plans to unveil in mid-January an upgraded resource, expected to be "more than double" the current estimate of 617 million tons of magnetite ore, Hebenton told Dow Jones Newswires.

Separate to Mount Bevan, NMDC has said it proposes to use Legacy as a vehicle to acquire large-scale bulk commodity projects in Australia.

NMDC has started due diligence on Atlas Iron Ltd.'s (AGO.AU) Ridley magnetite project in the Pilbara region, Hebenton said.


-By Stephen Bell, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; 61-8-9244-4243; [email protected]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 15, 2011 21:42 ET (02:42 GMT)

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