Im surprised this hasnt been picked up on. Article mentions Xstrata but more aimed at ENCR who appear to be on the hunt! I guess this might be yet another reason for Xstrata to not play hard ball and drag things out! Plenty of suitors out there as has been previously pointed out!
Speculation is mounting over potential corporate deals.
JOHANNESBURG - Speculation is mounting, once again, around potential merger and acquisition activity in southern Africa's platinum group metal (PGM) sector, which produces a good two thirds of global output. This time, what helps is that PGM prices (including platinum, palladium, rhodium, gold, nickel and copper) are really on the move, and most listed PGM stocks are running at or close to 12-month highs. The focus, for now, is around the Tier II sector, with the normal suspect at the front end. Around a year and more ago your humble reporter noted that likely suitors for Northam Platinum included the likes of Xstrata, a global diversified miner, Lonmin, a Tier I platinum digger, Alisher Usmanov, a Russian oligarch, and ENRC, a serially successful Kazakhstan-originated diversified miner. No bids have yet materialised from any of these names, but that could change any day. Earlier this month, rumours surfaced, again, that ENRC was back on the hunt, after recently acquiring erstwhile London-listed Camec for $1bn, mainly for its assets in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zimbabwe. The relative prior inactivity in the global PGM sector stemmed from the collapse in PGM prices during the second half of 2008, alleviated by the persistent increase in commodity prices across 2009.
NKP Price at posting:
58.5¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
