PanAust shares surge after Chinese company lodges takeover bid
Chinese investment in Australia is heating up, with Australian copper miner PanAust the latest local company to declare it is the focus of a takeover bid.
On Tuesday morning PanAust announced to the ASX that it had received a confidential, non-binding, indicative and incomplete takeover proposal from its biggest shareholder, Guangdong Rising.
Guangdong Rising currently holds a 22.84 per cent stake in the miner. It is offering $2.30 a share for PanAust, revised upwards from $2.20 a share. The bid includes a number of pre-conditions including Chinese and Australian regulatory approvals, completion of due diligence and 50.1 per cent minimum acceptance.
PanAust shares jumped 32 per cent to $2.08 following the announcement.
PanAust is a billion dollar copper and gold miner, and has its most productive mine in Laos.
But its appeal to a takeover suitor is its growth potential: PanAust is likely to have two major projects at its disposal within months, with its Inca D'Oro project in Chile likely to be joined soon by Glencore's Frieda River project in Papua New Guinea.
Inca D'Oro is a partnership with Chilean copper giant Codelco, but the project does not appear to be a top priority for Codelco, which is limiting PanAust's ability to develop it quickly.
Frieda River is looming as the likely winner, assuming a preliminary deal to buy it from Glencore can be sealed.
