another australian article

It's good to see a media outlet give this issue the space it deserves. There are implications beyond BRM in this.
Also interesting to read WN's spin on the takeover by the CFO.

-----------------------
Wah Nam undeterred by Brockman Resources hostility

Sarah-Jane Tasker
From: The Australian
May 18, 2011 12:00AM


HONG Kong-listed Wah Nam's push into Western Australia's vibrant iron ore region through its bold bid for two juniors has sparked a negative response from the targets.

However, the suitor says it is the right vehicle to unlock the value in the emerging miners.

Wah Nam chief investment officer Hendrianto Tee, in Sydney to discuss the scrip-based takeover offers for Brockman Resources and its Pilbara neighbour, FerrAus, said his company had decided its vision was to invest in the mining sector and Australia was one of the best targets.

"We respect the sophistication, standards and skills in Australia's mining sector," Mr Tee said.

Mr Tee, whose role is to identify investment opportunities for Wah Nam, said that years ago the company had realised years ago that it wanted to have a long-term strategy in iron ore in Australia.

Wah Nam looked at several options in Australia, including Aquila Resources, and assessed the infrastructure constraints for juniors before deciding that a bid for Brockman and FerrAus was a good idea.

Both companies are members of the North West Iron Ore Alliance, through which they can access port allocations at Port Hedland.

Mr Tee said consolidating the two juniors' assets would create economies of scale to source their own infrastructure solution, which could include reviewing the construction of a rail line.

While Mr Tee does not like to think of his move on Brockman as hostile, the junior's response to the unwanted takeover has definitely been unfriendly.

Perth-based Brockman complained to the Takeovers Panel about the bid, with allegations of questionable trading behaviour by offshore investors associated with Wah Nam, which the Asian company strongly denies.

Brockman's complaint was dismissed but the company has continued to warn shareholders against the offer and highlight that it is still seeking an investigation by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, even after Wah Nam took control of the company last Friday, with 51.99 per cent. Mr Tee said the company did not want to be hostile but he said Brockman's board should not have been surprised by the takeover move, as the company had been rapidly increasing its stake in the junior over the past few years. "We never immediately thought we would eventually take over Brockman; we started it as an investment, which we slowly built up," he said.

"When we got to 10 per cent of Brockman we started communicating with the board and started to gain more of an understanding of the company and its projects."

The head of investments for the iron ore-hungry suitor said the combination of the scale of resources the combined companies would command, and Wah Nam's position as a Hong Kong exchange company, would attract further investors.

Mr Tee said the ability to attract new investors could assist the company to secure funding to build infrastructure and develop the project, and Asian parties had already expressed an early interest in the assets. "We are not in a position to have formal discussions with each of them but we have been building our stakes for three years and a lot of investors and (Chinese) steel mills know about our position and we have had informal discussions with some of them," he said.

Despite some market speculation about whether Wah Nam would look to eventually sell the company on to a Chinese state-owned entity, Mr Tee said Wah Nam was in Australia for the "long term".

He added that while he understood that the target's board would be eager to know Wah Nam's plan, when the time was right he would start talks with the Brockman board on how they can develop the project together.