Not sure why the market thinks a deal wont get done- various interested parties have been through the door and final due diligence being conducted as per last announcement. Still on track for a conclusion to the process by the end of September. You dont do final due diligence if you are not serious about either bidding for the assets or the entire company. Chairman of Brockman said he was making a bid even before holding a Board meeting. I think its more of a case of the market having been burnt once already with the RIO deal and playing it safe this time round, which is understandable, whilst the world crumbles politically. Junior iron ore is not the only industry going through a consolidation stage atm.
IOH has stated it may keep the deposits and mine it themselves but surely this is just a tactic to get the best possible price. You arent exaclty going to say its fire sale time are you. In the press Stokesy has been reported as apparently willing to give up control if it results in IOH becoming a revenue generating company. This is strategically right in line with giving up some non-core assets to transition as quickly as possible to producer status. So its also clear the strategy is coming from Stokesy as much as it is of the Board and that he is getting impatient to unlock trapped value just like us normal folk.
So again it could be that unlike the RIO situation, second time round there is more appetite to do a reasonable deal for all in light of the severe impact the last non-deal had on our share price as well as wasted time. Fingers crossed. Lets not also forget that a satellite sale might make IOH more attractive to certain majors interested only in specific deposits as well as providing a stronger share price and therefore potential takeover premium...
IOH Price at posting:
$1.16 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
