IMX in Deal With China, Centro Declines

123jump.com Staff
28 Dec, 2007
New York City

ASX 200 index lost 0.2% to 6,339.90. Rams Home Loans extended a $500 million loan and the maturity of two of its funds by four months. Centro Direct Property Fund and international fund will pay reduced dividends for the fourth quarter. The Board of IMX Resources today signs an agreement with Jilin Tonghua Iron & Steel Mining Company Ltd for the sale of Cairn Hill ROM magnetite /copper ore in South Australia. Australian dollar closed higher.

[R]5:00AM New York, 9:00PM Sydney - The Australia index lost 0.2% after loses in resource stocks.[/R]

ASX 200 index lost 0.2% or 11 to close at 6,339.90.

The Preliminary market turnover was 355.4 million shares worth $1.105 billion with 348 stocks closed higher, 503 traded lower, and 292 were unchanged. Flinders Diamonds was the most actively traded stock with 37.9 million shares worth $3.68 million changing hands.

Rams Home Loans Group Ltd today extended a $500 million loan and the maturity of two of its funding facilities from December 31 to May 2.

The company also disclosed that it had also extended a separate $250 million facility to January 31 from December 31 as it failed to refinance more than $6 billion ($5.3 billion) in short-term loans this year.

Rams also indicated that it has received initial approvals to refinance $4.25 billion in short-term loans, including $1.5 billion with Westpac and $2.75 billion with lenders that were not identified.

Australia''s fourth-largest bank, Westpac Banking Corp bought the Rams brand and branch network for $140 million last month and agreed to provide $1.5 billion in funding after the company failed to refinance short-term loans when subprime- linked losses escalated in August and investors shunned risky credits.

Centro Properties Group today indicated that two of its units, Centro Direct Property Fund and Centro Direct Property Fund International will pay reduced dividends for the fourth quarter.

Centro Direct Property Fund is worth $2.4 billion ($2.1 billion) and Centro Direct Property Fund International has a net worth of $1.9 billion. The parent Centro Group lost nearly 80% of its market cap in one week.
Centro and its Retail Group announced on December 17 that it was suspending dividends after experiencing difficulties in meeting the February 15 deadline to refinance its $3.9 billion debt.

Centro shares declined 5.9% while Centro Retail was down 1%.

The Board of IMX Resources today signed a detailed Heads of Agreement with Jilin Tonghua Iron & Steel Mining Company Ltd for the purchase of Cairn Hill magnetite /copper ore in South Australia and a 16.4 million share placement at 85 cents per share to raise $13.93 million ($12.3 million) representing a 9.9% stake.

According to a statement issued by IMX Resources NL''s Managing Director Duncan Mcbain the terms of the agreement, Tonghua Mining will purchase 100% of the production of Cairn Hill ore from the initial project at approximately 1.2 million to 1.4 million tons per year, for a 3-year period.

Tonghua Mining plans to construct a processing facility in China to process the Cairn Hill ore to produce a high-grade magnetite concentrate and a copper/gold concentrate. Tonghua Mining also has the first right of acceptance for any additional production over the 1.4 million tons per year.

At the cessation of the contract, IMX Resources will have the first right to purchase the processing facility at market price. IMX rose 12% after the news.

The Australian dollar closed stronger again today after reaching 0.8792, the highest since December 14, before settling at 0.8730 at the close.

Of the ASX 200 index shares, Fortescue Metals led the gainers with a rise of 17.6% followed by increases in Australand Properties of 4.8%, in Challenger Finance of 3.7%, in Valad Property of 3.3%, and in Santos Limited of 2.9%.

Of the ASX 200 index stocks Centro Properties led the decliners with a fall of 5.9% followed by losses in APN/UKA European of 4.9%, in Sundance Resource of 4.5%, in Mincor Resources of 4.5% in, and in Bunnings Warehouse of 4.3%.

Stocks in energy sector were higher, with Woodside adding 1%, Santos up 2.9%, and Oil Search gaining 0.4%.

The gold miners were up with Newcrest adding 2% and Lihir advancing 1.2%.

The banking sector was mixed, with ANZ gaining 0.4%, Commonwealth Bank of Australia up 1.6%, the National Australia Bank was lost 0.7% and Westpac shed 0.1%.

The retailers were mixed, with David Jones adding 0.4%, Wesfarmers adding 1.1%, and Harvey Norman shed 0.7%.

The media sector was also mixed, with Fairfax was down 1.3%, News Corp lost 1.1%, Consolidated Media Holdings declined 3.9%, and Crown shed 1.5%.