Did ASM’s share price development perhaps play a role? We think so.
Chairman of ASMand concurrently alsochairman of Alkane ResourcesisIan Gandel, who has a history with Alkane Resourcessince July 2006when he acquired 15% of Alkane’s shares and became a director, long before ASM was spun-off from gold miner Alkane Resources in 2020.
CurrentlyMr Gandel’s shareholding of Alkane Resources is 25.32%, according to aresearch noteof Edison, dating July 7, 2022.
Upon spin-off from Alkane and separate listing of ASM in July 2020, Mr Gandel became ASM’s largest shareholder by holding directly 23.1% of ASM shares:
Source: ASX pre-quotation disclosure of ASM on Jul 29, 2020
However, the companyChapelgreenmentioned above as (5) and (7) lists as directorsAaron (John) GandelandPauline Gandel,the parents of Ian Gandel.
Both are exceptional philanthropists from Melbourne with Australia’s highest civil honours bestowed on them. John Gandel is onAustralia’s top ten richest persons list.
We assume theGandel familyjointly controlledat least 25.89% of ASMupon listing.
In this regard, note this article of April 9, 2021:
According to the Australian Corporations Act there areSpecial Resolutionsregarding decisions deemed critical for a company’s business. Such resolutions require a majority of 75% of the votes. What a critical decision is, is usually defined in the shareholder agreement or in the company constitution, but in general includes:
Modifying or adopting the company constitution;
Changing the company’s name;
Changing the company type;
Changes to the company’s share structure;
Decision on selective reduction of capital;
Decision on buy-back of shares;
Decision on a takeover offer;
Decisions about the company’s future.
In other words, in terms of Australia, a shareholding of 25% plus one share can be understood as a “blocking minority.”
Year-to-date the Gandel family probably has endured non-realised losses of -70% equivalent to ca. -A$300 mio for the ASM shareholding:
Understandably Ian Gandel may well be a bit unhappy about it.
The Dubbo project has a really low TREO of ~0.74%. They call it a “polymetallic” deposit, i.e. it contains zirconium, hafnium, niobium, tantalum and rare earths. Its commercial success depends on all metals contained being profitably produced and sold, in the one or the other form.
There is no one-fits-all process for all the metals. Therefore the Dubbo project would require an investment of almost A$1.7 billion (~US$1.16 billion), according to “Dubbo Project Optimisation Delivers Strong Financials” of December 7, 2021.
The large investment amount seems to be somehow absent fromASM’s recent investor presentation,but we are sure Mrs. Smith will mend that.
In April ASM filed an updated plan for approval at the NSW Planing Portal which is now in the decision process. You can find the complete filing here:https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/projects/dubbo-project-formerly-known-dubbo-zirconia-mine
We wish Mrs Smith the best of luck. Perhaps she will be for ASM what Mrs Lacaze is at Lynas.
(20min delay)