The Australian Financial Review PRINT EDITION: 13 Sep 2011 Street Talk Edited by Sarah Thompson, Christine Lacy and Stephen Shore
China Guangdong Nuclear Power was never expected to wait very long before it took up talks again with Kalahari Minerals and, sure enough, the two are back around the table.
The prize at Azure Capital-advised Kalahari is the large Husab uranium deposit in Namibia held by its 42.8 per cent-owned Extract Resources.
Extract's resilience in yesterday's market bloodbath underpins the view that another offer is in the wings, with the shares off 0.6 per cent compared with 8.8 per cent for Paladin Energy.
The theory is that any bid for Kalahari may have to be followed up with an equivalent offer for Extract.
But chatter in London last week that Kalahari's board had given the nod to a 280p-per-share offer from the Chinese, advised by Deutsche Bank, is understood to be off the mark.
The market's move south since China Guangdong aired its 270p-per-share proposal in May - down from the original 290p level - makes that price seem optimistic.
Cameco's hostile $C520 million ($498 million) bid last month for Hathor Exploration has shown that uranium M&A is back on, with suitors set to pick up some bargains in the slump.
Elsewhere, an official estimate for Guildford Coal's Mongolian resources due at the month-end is expected to show a similar quality of asset to Hunnu Coal, which has attracted a 30 per cent premium in Banpu's offer.
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