Oz Minerals Approves Asset Sale to Minmetals

123jump.com Staff
11 Jun, 2009
New York City

Australian stocks edged higher as resource and energy stocks closed up. Rio Tinto added 5.5% and Fortescue Metals increase 21.1%. OZ Minerals shareholders approved asset sale to China based Minmetals A$1.70 billion. GRD Limited surged 22% on a takeover offer from AMEC Plc.

[R]5:00 PM Sydney – Australian stocks edged higher as resource and energy stocks closed up. Rio Tinto added 5.5% and Fortescue Metals increase 21.1%. OZ Minerals shareholders approved asset sale to China based Minmetals A$1.70 billion. GRD Limited surged 22% on a takeover offer from AMEC Plc.[/R]

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said number of people employed in May decreased 1,700 from April 10.8 million. The unemployment rate increased 0.2% to 5.7%.

Full-time employment decreased by 26,200 to 7,643,100 and part-time employment increased by 24,500 to 3,150,000.

ASX 200 index in Australia increased 22.80 or 0.57% closed to 4,047.20. The yield on 2-year government bond increased 11 basis points to 4.08% and Australia dollar edged higher to 80.80 U.S. cents.

OZ Minerals Shareholders Approve Sale to Minmetals

Oz Minerals Ltd shareholders approved plan to sell copper and zinc mining operations to Minmetals Group controlled by China. More than 600 shareholders gathered at the annual meeting in Melbourne to show their displeasure to the company and its

The approval from 92% of shareholders will approve the sale for A$1.70 billion. The Oz Minerals plans to use the proceeds to repay A$1.1 billion debt and expand its Prominent Hill operations.

Minmetals increased its offer by A$180 million yesterday to secure the sale after two inferior bids were presented by Macquarie Group Ltd and a group that included RFC and Royal Bank of Canada.

About 42% shareholders voted against one director reelection expressing their dissatisfaction over the company debt and forced transaction with Minmetals at the bottom of the commodities prices.

Gainers & Losers

Strength in resource stocks lifted miners. Rio Tinto Plc increased 5.5% to A$77.05 and BHP added 1.5% to A$77.05. Fortescue Metals surged 21.2% to A$4.35.

Crown Limited decreased 1.3% to A$7.60 after it wrote down its 19.6% investment in entities that are controlled by Fontainebleau Resorts LLC. The units that sought bankruptcy are based in Las Vegas and do not include the hotel in Miami Beach, Florida.

Separately, Fontainebleau Las Vegas filed $3 billion in lawsuit against banks including Bank of America after the consortium rejected $800 million debt request as a part of credit agreement.

GRD Limited surged 22% to 50 cents after the engineering contractor received A$106 million takeover proposal from AMEC Plc. In London trading, AMEC increased 2.2% to 695 pence.

ASX 200 Index Movers

Amcor Ltd led the decliners in the ASX 200 index of 3.5% followed by losses in Spark Infrastructure Group of 3.4%, in Beach Petroleum Limited of 3.4%, in Elders Limited of 3.4% and in Transurban Group of 3.3%.

Fortescue Metals Group Ltd led gainers in the ASX 200 index with a rise of 21.1% followed by gains in Aquila Resources Limited of 20.0%, in Boart Longyear Group of 17.5% and Gindalbie Metals Limited of 14.3%.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 10.16 or 0.10% to 9,981.33, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 5.37 or 0.03% closed to 18,791.03, CSI 300 index in China lower 27.97 or 0.94% closed to 2,961.63. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 22.80 or 0.57% closed to 4,047.20. The KL Composite index in Malaysia higher 5.99 or 0.55% closed to 1,088.96.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 4.51 or 0.32% to close at 1,419.39.SET index in Thailand closed higher 2.52 or 0.40% to 627.07 and JSE Index in Indonesia decreased 19.23 or 0.91% closed to 2,089.58. The Sensex index in India decreased 55.34 or 0.36% closed to 15,411.47.