pna is one of those stocks with a large project and tenement area which will attract takeover rumours from time to time. company's with world class projects and acreage get attention.
see the article below.
Were brings out the takeover detector By Barry Fitzgerald Resources Editor August 29, 2005
Page Tools Email to a friend Printer format GARIMPEIRO is often accused of talking up the takeover potential of just about every listed mining stock. So this week he leaves it to Goldman Sachs JBWere to do the talking. The broker reckons that consolidation and merger and acquisition activity is alive and well in no less than nine market sectors, including resources and energy.
It argues that slowing revenue growth in 2005-06 has increased the incentive for corporates to "buy" earnings growth. What's more, strong corporate balance sheets and cash flows have arrived at a time of low interest rates.
That means that, despite high equity market ratings, most transactions are earnings accretive. BHP Billiton found that out, even though it waited for "Big" Mick Davis at Xstrata to convince it to pay
$9.2 billion for WMC Resources when the reality was that it could have snapped it up for $5.5 billion barely six months earlier. Goldman has come up with a list of "potential candidates for consolidation on the basis that these companies possess assets that are considered strategically attractive in their own right or in combination with other assets". That's a long way of saying that they are takeover targets.
Advertisement AdvertisementWe're talking about stocks with a combined market capitalisation of $28 billion — $5.7 billion in the energy sector and $22.3 billion in the resources sector.
Energy sector candidates are Australian Wide Exploration (AWE), Oil Search, Roc Oil and Tap Oil.
Resources sector tips are Alumina, Newcrest, Iluka, Macarthur Coal, Jubilee Mines, Lihir Gold, Pan Australian Resources, Bendigo Mining, Perseverance, Zinifex and Oxiana.
The big-ticket item in all that is Alumina. Because of some in-house policy, Goldman couldn't bring itself to have a stab at who any of the potential acquirers were in its consolidation list. No such bans here, with Alcoa of the US the only logical buyer.
Be warned that being listed as a potential takeover target does not make a stock a buy. Goldman has a "sell" recommendation on Jubilee and a hold on Alumina, Iluka, Macarthur, Bendigo, Oxiana and Tap. The "buys" — again not solely because they are potential targets — are Newcrest, Lihir, Pan Aust, Perseverance, Zinifex, AWE, Oil Search and Roc.
CANADA'S Teck Cominco could feature in several predatory moves in the Aussie market, with its zinc and coking interests throwing locals such as Macarthur, Oxiana, Pan Aust and Zinifex into the frame.
But Garimpeiro's interest this week is in whether or not Teck Cominco has struck a deal with South Australia's solo explorer, Rudy Gomez, on his Carrapateena copper-gold discovery near Lake Torrens and to the south-east of BHP's Olympic Dam operation.
Last month, Carrapateena — part funded by the South Australian Government's Plan for Accelerated Exploration — returned an impressive 67 metres at an average grade of 3.03 per cent copper and 0.4 grams of gold a tonne.
Rudy's phone rang off the hook, with companies offering the privateer a way forward with the discovery. The whisper last week was that Teck Cominco blew the competition out of the water with an offer that was a multiple of that which some of the locals had offered — multiples of $10 million for a 20 per cent interest.
Garimpeiro would love to confirm it all but Rudy said that the Government won't let him talk because of some confidentiality clause tied up with PACE funding. Funny thing is, the PACE boys reckon there is no such problem. Garimpeiro doesn't think the deal on Carrapateena will remain a state secret for long.
Listed explorers with tenements in the region would also be keen for Rudy and PACE to be forthcoming, particularly if the whisper about the Teck Cominco offer is correct. It would make their positions more valuable/interesting to the market.
The listed juniors in Carrapateena country include David Harley's Gunson Resources, Derek Carter's Minotaur Exploration, Havilah and the Argonaut/Straits joint venture. Monax Mining and a couple of others are in the process of floating.
TOM Eadie's Copper Strike has put the market on notice to expect something special from the latest drilling at its high-grade Einasleigh copper prospect in northern Queensland.
It said that visual examination of hole END 25 suggested 30 metres of "strong to very strong copper mineralisation" from a depth of 236 metres. Assay results are pending but it seems a fair bet we are talking about a copper grade of 10-20 per cent.
That's just what you want with the continued strength in the copper price. The last time a high-grade hit was reported from Einasleigh, shares in Copper Strike rocketed 18¢ to 36.5¢. And would you believe it? Copper Strike's major shareholder is Teck Cominco.
PNA Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Not Held
