All good thoughts, but the IER is not a valuation tool, it is...

All good thoughts, but the IER is not a valuation tool, it is simply to determine if an offer/transaction is “fair and/or reasonable”. As a result you often have a situation where a lowball offer is seen as not fair, but reasonable under the definitions provided. I will be happy to say now that the IER we will receive in a month or two will come to the conclusion of the offer being “not fair, but reasonable”.


Not fair as they will see the offer undervalues the ore in the ground etc, but reasonable because what other option do shareholders have ?


That is why I thought the Quick PWC report was a bad move (before it was released) for minority shareholders as it has allowed the Directors to use it as the reason why we should accept this lowball deal.... bluntly there is no other option. Was this all part of a plan ? I am sure the IE will be given a copy. Unfortunately for BBIG we are not that gullible. That was a known result when they announced they were getting it done as nobody has a spare railway, port etc just sitting around with 30 - 40mtpa capacity. Neither does BBIG but they might be able to build one if we give them the ore.... a plan they have been working on for years. Did PWC talk to any of the other potential operators or just make the summary from publicly available information ? Did anyone ask this at the Q & A.


FMS could have been communicating with other parties for years so that when they were in position to move forward a number of potential players were interested. Unfortunately for various reasons it appears our Boards have not done that as they had yet to do a BFS or had to do more maturation work etc, so discussions were delayed. That is all documented in past asx releases. Now because BBIG has timelines with the rail, the whole thing is all of a sudden more urgent.... so that is BBIG’s problem, not FMS’s. We as shareholders deserved competing offers and the board should have worked to that effect, in my view.


I can understand FMS now not wanting to have detailed discussions with other potential operators/partners as BBIG may not be willing to allow others to play in their sandpit, but that does not mean FMS shareholders should now just rollover and accept BBIG’s offer. Due to a hardy bunch of minority shareholders who want fair value for the ore they own, that looks unlikely.


The clock is ticking and the Mexican standoff continues.... I continue to love the fact that the ore does not go off. Eventually this deposit will be mined, just a question of when and by whom. Until then I will just enjoy my BHP, FMG and CIA shares pumping out valuable iron ore to the world.