cambrian sells for 90c , page-4

russians chinese calling for peace Russians, Chinese calling for peace


When Mt Gibson took on the Aztecs there was no Billy Thorpe to make it all work out.

THERE are all sorts of intriguing developments in the bitter takeover battle between rival iron ore miners Mount Gibson and Aztec Resources, with the Russians now joining the Chinese in positioning themselves for the run-up to the close of the offer at the end of next week.

Last night Mount Gibson, which launched a hostile bid for Aztec back in July, found itself with a new and influential shareholder: Gallagher Holdings, the investment vehicle of Russian steel magnate Alisher Usmanov.

Gallagher has turned up on Mt Gibson's share register courtesy of a 19.9 per cent stake bought from the other wily player in this battle, the London coal and energy group Cambrian Resources, which owned nearly 32 per cent of Aztec before the bid and threw its support behind Mt Gibson in the early stages of the takeover, having given its blessing to create Australia's biggest independent iron ore producer.

Despite that, Mt Gibson has found acceptances slow amid a protracted war of words with Aztec which, in part, prompted the recent arrival of a Chinese investment house, Shanghai Merchants, as a large shareholder in both companies.

Anxious to share in the benefits of bringing both miners together, Shanghai has called for the mud-slinging to stop and for negotiations to begin.

It seems that Usmanov, who apparently controls two of the largest iron mines in Russia, thinks it's a good idea as well, having paid 90c a share for Gallagher's stake - a significant premium given the shares began trading at just above 82c yesterday morning. By the close, Mt Gibson was up 3 per cent at 85c.

The Russians' approach came at a very opportune time for the Brits. By its own admission, Cambrian likes to control its investments and that would have taken more money than it was prepared to put in to build its stake back up in what it described yesterday as a "significant new force in the world iron ore trade".

It's a struggle