27/11/09 - Avoca Resources' controlling shareholder Pala Investments has sparked renewed speculation that Integra Mining is poised to receive a takeover bid after boosting its stake in the emerging gold producer to 10.6 per cent.
Pala, which owns 22.5 per cent of Avoca and already holds about 6 per cent in Integra, yesterday morning bought Rand Merchant Bank's 4.8 per cent block at 29 per Integra share.
The pre-trade block crossing worth $8.3 million sparked a trading frenzy in Integra's stock sending its share price soaring 12.3 per cent to 32. More than 39 million shares, or 7.1 per cent of Integra's issued capital, changed hands.
Pala last night confirmed that it was behind the Integra stock acquisition.
The Swiss-based investor holds some of its Integra stake in its own name but also controls shares held in various nominee accounts, including UBS Nominees. UBS Nominees declared last week that it had boosted its Integra stake from 6.4 per cent to 10.3 per cent.
Pala's managing director Jan Castro is in Perth to attend the annual meeting of Avoca, on whose board he sits as a non-executive director.
Some analysts have said that Pala is driving Avoca's growth-through-acquisition strategy and wanted to move on Integra before Integra starts the $64 million development of its flagship Randalls project.
26/11/09 - ABOUT 5 per cent of outstanding shares in gold developer Integra Miningchanged hands today on the Australian Securities Exchange, with Pala Investment Holdings increasing its existing stake to over 10 per cent, a person familiar with the matter said.
The trade went through at 29 cents before the market opened, a small premium to yesterday's closing price of 28.5c. By mid-afternoon, shares in Integra stood at 30.5c, up 2c or 7 per cent on the day, with a market capitalisation of just under $168 million.
Pala Investment, a Swiss private-equity group, is Integra's third largest shareholder at 5.3 per cent. It's also the largest shareholder of fellow Western Australian gold miner Avoca Resources, with a 22.5 per cent stake that is worth about $131m.
