Oz Minerals in Australia Prefers Minmetals

Darlington Musarurwa
08 Jun, 2009
New York City

The battle for copper and gold miner Oz Minerals heated up ahead of its annual meeting this week. OZ Mineral in a press release advised its shareholders to approve the deal with China based Minmetals and rejected non-binding recapitalization offer from its bankers.

[R]3:00AM New York, 7:00PM Sydney - OZ Minerals rejects US$1.2 billion recapitalization offer.[/R]

Australian miner OZ Minerals rejected $1.2 billion recapitalization offer that was made by a local investment and advisory agency in favor of an earlier offer made by China Minmetals.

The Australian stock market was closed for a public holiday today.

OZ Minerals Rejects $1.2 billion Offer

The Australian reported today that OZ Minerals has rejected an alternative recapitalization offer of $1.2 billion submitted by Australian investment and advisory group RFC Corporate Finance and RBC Capital Markets on Friday.

RFC managing director Rob Adamson and RBC Capital Markets chief Richard Barker announced in a joint statement on Friday their proposal was “superior” on value than other offers that have been made for OZ assets.

According to the report, there is speculation that the company’s board instead has asked China Minmetals to increase its offer in order to secure the deal. China Minmetals has proposed to purchase all of the miner’s assets except mine Prominent Hill and the proposals have since been approved by the regulatory authorities.

Oz Mineral in a press release published on the Web site indicated that no proposal from the banks has been received and the deadline for any proposal in Jun 9 ahead of its board meeting on June 11.

The mining company also indicated that if the merger proposal with China Minmetals was voted down than the company may have to file involuntary administration or receivership if it cannot refinance its debt obligation.

Oz Minerals was created from the merger of Oxiana Ltd and Zinifex Ltd and the company assumed $1.1 billion in debt at the height of the commodities boom.

The China based Minmetals, the government controlled metal trading company is expected to control copper, zinc and gold mining operations of Oz Minerals next month if shareholders approve the purchase.

New Zealand House Prices Fall 8.1% in May

The government valuation agency Quotable Value New Zealand reported today that the country’s average house prices declined 8.1% in May from the same period a year earlier.

The report notes that prices across the 17 main urban centers fell by an average 7.7%, while home prices dropped 7.6% in Auckland and 7.4% in Wellington.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 97.62 or 1.00% to 9,865.63, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 426.14 or 2.28% closed to 18,253.39, CSI 300 index in China higher 9.17 or 0.31% closed to 2,948.48.The KL Composite index in Malaysia lower 2.65 or 0.25% closed to 1,072.85.The Markets of Australia were closed today.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 1.41 or 0.10% to close at 1,393.30. SET index in Thailand closed lower 4.54 or 0.75% to 600.03 and JSE Index in Indonesia decreased 22.28 or 1.07% closed to 2,056.65. The Sensex index in India decreased 437.63 or 2.90% closed to 14,665.92.