good opportunity to top up ad, page-19

I think the issue with NMDC is actually spending money full stop.
No doubt they want top drawer assets at rock bottom prices and think they can acquires such assets on the back of an impressive balance sheet.

The article below has been posted before but when re-read with consideration of the delays I think "time wasters".

In late March they said, "..may decide..within a month...". They signed in June 2011 and AD has nothing to report apart from not considering offers in the vicinity of $15M.

AD has his faults and we are all pretty disappointed but NMDC have been a big let down.

They may have access to finance but they clearly have no comprehension of the costs in Australia. The various low ball figures touted on here and in the press are laughable when, for example, the cost of living in this country is considered.

I am in complete agreement with all on here who feel that the takeover attempt has been a farce and complete waste of company funds as well as potentially eroding the goodwill between the respective management teams.


Bloomberg News
NMDC to Cut Acqusition Funds After Failing to Buy Assets
By Abhishek Shanker on March 21, 2012

NMDC Ltd. (NMDC), India’s largest iron ore producer, plans to slash the funds set aside to buy overseas assets by 60 percent next year after spending 5 percent of the budget to buy companies.

The company may spend as much as $200 million in the year starting April 1, Finance Director Swaminathan Thiagarajan said in a telephone interview. NMDC had planned to spend $500 million in the 12 months to March 31.

Soaring valuations and competition hampered NMDC’s efforts to acquire iron ore and coking coal assets last year, former Chairman Rana Som said in November. The company is seeking to secure raw material supplies for its proposed 3 million metric ton steel plant that will start in 2014 in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh.

NMDC may decide on buying Minemakers Ltd. (MAK)’s Wonarah rock phosphate mine in Australia within a month and is also looking to purchase a coking coal mine in Mozambique and an iron ore project in Brazil, Thiagarajan said, without giving details.

“Our team will visit the coal mine block in Mozambique shortly to take a call on its feasibility,” Thiagarajan said from his office in Hyderabad, where the company is based. “The biggest challenge that we have to overcome in most of these assets that we aim to buy is setting up of basic infrastructure, which has large cost implications.”

The shares fell as much as 2.1 percent to 160.25 rupees and traded at 161.70 rupees as of 11:05 a.m. in Mumbai. The stock has gained less than 0.5 percent this year, compared with a 12 percent increase in the benchmark Sensitive Index.

NMDC, which spent about $20 million buying a 50 percent stake in Australia’s Legacy Iron Ore Ltd. (LCY) in December, plans to acquire a mine with 360 million tons of deposits in Mozambique’s Tete province, Chairman Narendra Kumar Nanda said on Jan. 5. The company is also considering buying a coal asset in Russia and an iron ore and manganese mine in Brazil’s Amapa province, he had said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Abhishek Shanker in Mumbai at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rebecca Keenan at [email protected]