share price

I found this little bit of writing whilst googling consmin- somehow I missed it last week- as it is dated July 11th. It backs up Glenn Stedmans call for a better offer-

'ConsMin's minions twigging

BRIAN Gilbertson is a smart man. At Billiton, he got the better of BHP. Now at Pallinghurst, he's almost got the better of Consolidated Minerals. Almost.

In hand with AMCIf's Connecticut coal baron Hans Mende and South African merchant bank Investec, Gilbertson is offering $2.80 a share for ConsMin. And he's got a board recommendation from ConsMin chairman John Carter. The rub is that ConsMin is worth north of $4 a share and shareholders are twigging to the fact that Pallinghurst's bid is too tricky and too low.

Argo's Rob Patterson and Noble Group's Richard Elman are unlikely to sell. And yesterday, two private ConsMin holders - Glenn Stedman and Keith Barnard - stepped up their "Vote No" campaign, mailing out a note to shareholders.

"Even after tax, the manganese revenue that is locked in for the forthcoming quarter alone will be similar to, if not more than, what CSM will earn during the whole 2006-07 financial year ($33.8 million)," warn Stedman and Barnard. "A 'yes' vote would see you forfeit 60 per cent or more of that."

The dissidents are spot on. Pallinghurst is stumping up just 30c a share for ConsMin's stakes in a swag of developers too: Jabiru, Vital Metals, BC Iron, Mithril Resources and Reed Resources, although they're worth $213 million, or 94c a share.

Expert's uncovered glory

PWC hasn't exactly covered itself in glory either. The independent expert has valued ConsMin at $2.70 a share (range $2.40 to $3). Only a year ago, as expert to ConsMin's Titan acquisition, PWC had priced its client at $2.55 a share (range $2.32 to $2.77).

But in that past year, manganese had shot up from $US2 a pound to $US6.40, chrome ore from $US130 a tonne to $US270 a tonne and nickel from $US7 a pound to $US16. Not only have metals prices more than doubled but ConsMin has enjoyed exploration success, production upgrades and massive price rises as the value of its minority holdings has tripled.

If a Qantas board recommendation was not enough for the Airline Partners Australia private equity consortium, Pallinghurst can hardly bank on an imprimatur from ConsMin directors. Especially while ConsMin founder Michael Kiernan is pitching a higher bid, some $3.60 a share in cash and scrip, from his new plaything Territory Resources. Kiernan was forced out of ConsMin a year ago.

Then there's continuous disclosure. Despite much urging from shareholders, ConsMin was tardy telling the market about the big run-up in manganese prices. Shareholders who sold out at $2.65 a share a few weeks ago have cause to be cross. '