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George Soros moves into Marengo.

Sarah-Jane Tasker | September 02, 2009
Article from: The Australian.

BILLIONAIRE George Soros's investment fund has leapt on to the share register of Marengo Mining, taking a 19.9 per cent stake in the Perth-based copper developer.

Quantum Partners, a New York-based fund managed by Soros Fund Management, has become the second-largest shareholder behind the Sentient Group, which increased its share to 26.7 per cent with Marengo's $16 million capital raising.

Marengo managing director Les Emery said that having the global financier and philanthropist as a significant shareholder was a tick of approval, not only for the company's Yandera copper project in Papua New Guinea, but also for the outlook for copper.

"We've been in this project since 2005 and working on it solidly and the Sentient global fund came in three years ago and we saw that as a vote of confidence," he said.

"Now they have been joined by Soros's Quantum fund and we see that as a further vote of confidence in terms of what we are trying to achieve ... and it is also a really big tick for Papua New Guinea.

"When we started down the road of a capital raising a couple of months ago, the market was somewhat different. But as I did the roadshow, I saw a gradual change in the mood and we had discussions with a number of substantial investment groups around the world and we were pleased to see a group such as Quantum could follow our vision and see what we were trying to achieve and be prepared to back us."

The company, which is also listed in Canada, raised $C14.8m ($16.3m) to accelerate exploration and development of its Yandera copper-molybdenum-gold project in Madang province. The previously announced raising involved an offering of 172.5 million shares at $C0.086 ($0.095) per share, and was underpinned by Mr Soros's fund and the Sentient Group, which manages more than $US1.3 billion in the development of resources assets.

The company's shares are in a trading halt after last trading at 10c.