article - chances of rival bid fading!

Chances of rival Sundance bid fading

SUNDANCE Resources investors might have got a little excited about rumours of a challenge to Sichuan Hanlong Group's takeover offer, which values the miner at $1.4 billion, but it looks as though the Chinese group is firmly in the box seat.

Why else would the target and suitor arrange a joint meeting with Cameroon President Paul Biya, who ends a three-day China visit today? Whoever runs Sundance will control the $4.7bn Mbalam iron ore mine, port and railway project that straddles the border of Cameroon and Congo.

It's understood Hanlong chief Liu Han, who already holds almost 19 per cent of the iron ore group, and Sundance's George Jones caught up with Biya to talk about the project.

The discussions are a clear signal that the two are working together on a formal -- hopefully sweetened -- proposal, after Hanlong's initial 50c-a-share offer for the 81 per cent of Sundance it doesn't own was described by the target's board as not providing "adequate" value or certainty for shareholders.

That would seem to make things tough for any interloper, and as Sundance and its Chinese adviser Citic Securities have searched for months for a strategic partner on the project, a rival bid looks unlikely.