smh article - 23/3, page-44

Forging the deal

"AFTER The Age went to press on Tuesday, Kevin Hobgood-Brown, of Riverstone Advisory, who has been guiding the board of Forge Resources in its deal with Lynas Corporation, rang from Beijing.

He clarified a couple of points about the structure of the deal, one being that the timing of the adoption of the Riverstone name was coincidental to the mining tenements deal.

It had, he said, been done because Sino Resources Capital wanted to distance itself from some market perceptions that it was one of the many arms of the Chinese state. Look out for a rebranding exercise in the next couple of weeks.

Riverstone/Sino is controlled by Nick Curtis and his son Oliver.

Curtis senior is chairman and founder of both Lynas and Forge, and likely to be a big beneficiary in receiving shares when Forge beds down buying subleases on Lynas's Mount Weld leases for $20.7 million cash and quite a few shares.

Hobgood-Brown said that as soon as the negotiation of the deal began, Curtis was excluded from the process by both listed companies to ensure it stood up to good governance scrutiny."


Ian McIlwraith
[email protected]


http://www.businessday.com.au/business/power-struggle-over-effects-of-carbon-plan-20110323-1c6qg.html