Kate Haycock --MINING NEWS-- Thursday, 15 October 2009
POLARIS Metals has recommended shareholders accept an improved takeover offer from mining services company Mineral Resources, which has upped its scrip bid and is offering cash as well.
The mineral services company has increased its bid to one Mineral Resources share for every 12 Polaris shares and 5c cash, up from its previous all-scrip offer of one Mineral Resources share for every 12.5 Polaris shares.
The increased offer values Polaris at 65.33c per share and the whole company at around $115 million.
Mineral Resources wants to waive the minimum acceptance condition of 50.1% and said if it reached acceptances of that level, it would scrap all other conditions on its offer.
The offer period will be extended by two weeks to close on November 9.
A competing offer for Polaris came last week from a Malaysian-backed group, Lion-Asia Resources, offering 60c cash for each Polaris share, valuing Polaris at around $93.6 million.
Polaris has said the new Mineral Resources offer is superior to Lion-Asia’s bid on value. The offer will also give Polaris’s current shareholders continued exposure to its projects and growth potential through Mineral Resources, which is also listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Mineral Resources has control of 29.19% of Polaris’s shares, including a 19% stake committed by Heron Resources.
Lion-Asia, meanwhile, is associated with Lion Diversified Holdings Berhad, Polaris’s largest shareholder with a 26% stake.
Lion-Asia itself is a joint venture between Singapore-listed Lion AsiaPac and Tan Sri William Cheng Heng Jem, the chairman of Malaysia’s Lion Group which has interests in the steel industry.
Funding for the bid will come from Lion-Asia’s shareholders in equal proportions through cash reserves and bank debt.
The bid is conditional on 50.1% acceptances of all shares, not including the LDHB stake.
Shares in Polaris were last traded at 62.5c, unchanged this morning. Shares in Mineral Resources last traded at $7.20, down 4c this morning.
POL Price at posting:
67.0¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
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