China firm offers $1.7b for debt-laden Australian miner
Chinese firm Minmetals has made a 2.6 billion dollar (1.7 billion US) offer to take over debt-laden Australian miner OZ Minerals, which said Monday it would recommend the deal to its shareholders.
The announcement came just four days after China's state-owned aluminium firm Chinalco said it was putting 19.5 billion US dollars into another troubled Australian mining giant, Rio Tinto.
OZ Minerals said it had agreed to a cash offer from Minmetals, or China Minmetals Nonferrous Metals Company Ltd, of 0.82.5 Australian dollars a share, a 50 percent premium over Oz Minerals' last traded share price of November 27.
Under the deal, Minmetals will repay all of OZ Mineral's outstanding debt and also redeem its outstanding convertible bonds.
"The board has determined that Minmetals' cash proposal is in the best interests of OZ Minerals' shareholders and believes this is the best outcome for shareholders compared with any of the other options available to us," OZ chairman Barry Cusack said in a statement to the stock exchange.
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