Jubilee happy with acquisition price Sunday Nov 4 12:23 AEDT Jubilee Mines NL executive chairman Kerry Harmanis said a private auction of the nickel miner provided enough competitive tension to get a good price for its acquisition.
Switzerland-based miner Xstrata plc on Monday made a $3.1 billion takeover bid for Jubilee, which was unanimously recommended by Mr Harmanis and the rest of the Western Australian firm's board.
Mr Harmanis said the timing of Xstrata's bid was "right there", adding that there was interest shown from other groups, and that Jubilee was acting on the recommendation of its adviser.
"We're very confident we've tested the market enough and there was enough competitive tension there to extract the very best price for the company and its shareholders," he told ABC Television.
Mr Harmanis declined to reveal the price of the next highest bid behind Xstrata's and would not rule out the emergence of another offer.
"We'll see if something else comes up and we'll deal with it," he said.
Still, Mr Harmanis said, Xstrata's offer came at a "fair, good strong price".
Xstrata's offer represents a 35 per cent premium over Jubilee's closing price of $17.10 on Friday, October 26, and Mr Harmanis said it represented a 25 per cent premium to Jubilee's highest ever trading price.
The Xstrata bid is conditional on a 90 per cent acceptance level and Foreign Investment Review Board approval.
If the deal between Xstrata and Jubilee is not completed, a break fee of $31.3 million will be triggered, pending certain circumstances.
Xstrata expects to dispatch its bidder's statement to Jubilee shareholders within a month.
Jubilee directors, senior managers and others shareholders intend to accept Xstrata's offer in regard to 17.5 per cent of Jubilee's stock
JBM Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held