Just look at how a Hong Kong tycoon out of nowhere forked out...

Just look at how a Hong Kong tycoon out of nowhere forked out big bucks when Wah Nam needed some hefty cash. Yep, a HK tycoon who probably has never heard of Bock Man and never bothered to ask.

Next time, it could be a Macau casino baron, Fujian textile mogul or a Shanghai property magnate bankrolling the rail deal.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/wah-nam-mopup-bid-for-brockman-yet-to-convince-minorities-20111215-1owtc.html?skin=text-only

Wah Nam mop-up bid for Brockman yet to convince minorities
Date: December 16 2011

Barry Fitzgerald

THE mop-up takeover bid by Hong Kong-listed Wah Nam International for former high-flying Pilbara iron-ore hopeful Brockman Resources has entered the home straight after the release of Wah Nam's bidder's statement and Brockman's target statement.

But some minority shareholders have other ideas. Wah Nam owns 55.33 per cent of Brockman, mostly acquired from an earlier scrip-only bid. Its agreed bid for the rest - announced on December 12 - is 18 of its shares and $1.50 cash for each Brockman share. The bid valued Brockman yesterday at $2.67 a share on the Australian market, and $3.01 on the Hong Kong market.

Brockman traded on the local market yesterday at $2.27 a share. The discount to the Wah Nam cash and scrip offer suggests the takeover is all but done.

But the lack of a full cash bid continues to agitate minorities, who reminisce that Brockman was an $860 million company in March before Wah Nam took control with its first bid in June. Brockman is now a $328 million company and the minorities' agitation has spilled in to an anti-bid website (BRM shareholder Collective).

The agitation reflects the difficulty in valuing Wah Nam shares. Apart from its existing Brockman stake, the company runs a small copper mine in China and a limousine business. The Wah Nam bid is conditional on it getting to 80 per cent of Brockman. Its task has been made easier than it might have been because of the agreed nature of the bid. Brockman directors holding 11.3 per cent of the company intend to accept.

The agitating minorities can be relied on to provide some interesting commentary on the independent expert's report in Brockman's target's statement. The report by Deloitte found the scrip and cash offer was fair and reasonable. It valued the fair market value of a Brockman share at $2.70 to $2.95 a share and stated, among other things, that in the absence of the Wah Nam offer, Brockman shares ''may trade below current levels''.

As disclosed, Hong Kong shipping tycoon Kwai Sze Hoi has largely underwritten the $104 million cash component of Wah Nam's bid.