Australian Vanadium goes all-in for Technology Metals Australia consolidation
Adrian RausoThe West Australian
Tue, 12 December 2023 8:44AM
Technology Metals' chief executive Ian Prentice. Credit: Supplied
Australian Vanadium has put all its chips on the table, raising its offer to Technology Metals Australia shareholders to get a proposed merger over the line, an offer which it says is its best and final.
As reported by The West Australian on Monday, the two WA vanadium hopefuls went into a trading halt as Australian Vanadium ironed out the details of an enhanced bid to sway Technology Metals’ large contingent of shareholders dissatisfied with the previous proposal.
Under the new proposal, TMT shareholders will received 14 AVL shares for every TMT share they hold, compared to the previous offer of 12 AVL shares.
The last bid represented a 9.8 per cent premium to TMT’s last closing share price, while the fresh offer constitutes a 43.3 per cent premium.
In a joint announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange on Tuesday the two companies said 38.6 per cent of TMT shareholders are now in favour of the tie-up. The percentage of those opposed was not disclosed.
Around 16.9 per cent of TMT shareholders have said they intended to vote against the previous terms, while 26 per cent gave it the thumbs up.
The consolidation, which was initially announced as a $217 million deal in September, will essentially require a 75 per cent vote in favour and is going to be put to a vote with Technology Metals’ shareholders on January 16.
Neither Mr Prentice, or AVL chief executive Graham Arvidson, would comment on Friday whether they would be keen to sweeten the offer for Technology Metals’ shareholders to push the merger through.
AVL and TMT share the same vanadium-rich orebody around 40km south of Meekatharra in the State’s Mid West, which will be packaged together under a proposed merger.
Mr Prentice said on Friday the tie-up between the two vanadium hopefuls makes “complete” sense.
“It’s probably the most logical consolidation you can imagine in the mining industry,” he said.
