Ann: Gascoyne Resources Update, page-30

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/bu...s/news-story/f37c13684f2299d9aef2d4a290976930
Gascoyne raising looms as Hong Kong bid fails


It is understood Hanking’s need to win FIRB approval was a significant factor in the creditor vote.

• NICK EVANS
  RESOURCE WRITER
  
• 8:07PM JUNE 26, 2020

Hong Kong-listed China Hanking Holdings has failed in its bid to win a cornerstone stake in failed gold developer Gascoyne Resources after the company’s creditors opted against its offer to kick in an extra $20m towards a recapitalisation.

The decision frees Gascoyne’s administrators, FTI Consulting, to pursue a $70m-$80m raising to recapitalise the company and refloat in on the market without the risk the Foreign Investment Review Board could block Hanking’s participation in the raising.

It is understood a majority of Gascoyne’s small creditors, owed $6m by the collapsed miner, voted in favour of the FTI proposal, as well as Gascoyne’s biggest creditor, NRW Holdings, owed almost $33m for its work at Gascoyne’s Dalgaranga mine in WA.

The decision means only a vote of Gascoyne’s shareholders is required before the equity raising can be launched.

Hanking threw its hat publicly into the ring this week, just ahead of Thursday’s creditor’s meeting, offering to top up the raising with $20m to pay out creditors early, in exchange for a stake of up to 30 per cent of the gold miner.
The decision of Gascoyne’s creditors was further complicated by a second last-ditch offer, from unlisted Habrok Mining — which also made a takeover play for ASX-listed Alto Metals — offering $80m for Gascoyne’s gold mining assets, in a bid it said was backed by funds manager BlackRock.

It is understood Hanking’s need to win FIRB approval was a significant factor in the creditor vote, although NRW also won concessions from FTI accelerating payments from the proceeds of the raising.

But criticism of the timeliness and consistency of FIRB decisions have been growing louder from the junior mining sector since the introduction of new post-COVID rules making it harder for foreign companies to buy Australian assets.


On Wednesday, China’s Goldsea Group walked away from a $22m takeover offer for Alto after the FIRB asked for an extra 10 months to consider whether it would allow the transaction.
Problems winning FIRB approval have also been blamed for the withdrawal of a planned $14.1m injection by China’s Yibin Tianyi Lithium Industry Company into AVZ Minerals, which, while an ASX-listed company, has a lithium project in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the centre of its development plans.