heron bags $38 million from share sale

Heron bags $38M from share sale
MINING NEWS STORY

Monday, 18 January 2010

HERON Resources has pocketed $A37.9 million from the sale of its entire shareholding in Mineral Resources, boosting its cash at bank to more than $60 million.

The company said today that it had netted $37.9 million after finalising the sale of 5.3 million shares in Mineral Resources at a price of $7.15 per share.

Heron received the shares after accepting Mineral Resources takeover offer for Polaris Metals.

After adding the cash component of the takeover consideration, Heron received more than $40 million for its stake in Polaris.

Heron managing director Matthew Longworth said the board was pleased with the price realised for the shares, completing an orderly exit and monetising the Mineral Resources investment.

The cash realised means that Heron now has in excess of $60 million cash at bank, he said.

This strong financial position will enable Heron to complete the assessment of the A1 gold project and, if warranted, commission a mining operation.

Significantly, Heron is now well positioned to pursue additional resource business opportunities.

Shares in Heron have gained 1c to 31.5c in early afternoon trade.