Thursday, November 13, 2008 Indophil approves Alsons buyout bid By Edwin G. Espejo
INDOPHIL Resources NL has reportedly been given the go-signal to negotiate with Filipino conglomerate, Alsons Corporation, for the potential sale of its minority shares at the Sagittarius Mine Inc. (SMI).
SMI is the owner of the Tampakan Copper and Gold project.
According to a breaking story posted on www.tradingmarkets.com, 65.3 percent of Indophil shareholders voted in favor of the sale at the general assembly meeting in Australia Wednesday morning.
Majority SMI owner Xstrata Plc earlier opposed the sale but was overcame by shareholders.
Xstrata, which owns 62.5 percent of SMI, is also a shareholder of Indophil Resources with a 19.9 percent stake of the Swiss-based mining firm, earlier bought from Lions Selection.
Xstrata has vigorously campaigned against the sale and tried to gather enough proxies to block the deal.
If the deal pushes through, it will be a mighty comeback for Alsons, which last year sold close to two percent of its five percent stake at SMI to Indophil, following the Xstrata takeover of the Tampakan copper and gold project.
Alsons has yet to issue a statement about the latest development at Indophil. The sale will allow Alsons to own 37.5 percent of SMI.
The Swiss-based mining giant, however, said it was disappointed with the approval of the sale.
"We now expect the Indophil board to provide its shareholders with the details of their proposed sale transaction as soon as possible," said Xstrata Copper Chief Executive Charlie Sartain.
Xstrata opposed the sale of Indophil stakes at SMI on the grounds that details of the transaction were not fully disclosed.
But Indophil said Alsons wants full authority from the shareholders before it will disclose the fine prints of its bid.
In September, Alsons, supported by Hong Kong merchant bank Crosby Capital Ltd., offered to buy the Indophil block at SMI at AUS$1.28 per share.
At Wednesday's trading, the value of Indophil was pegged at 79 Australian cents per share.
With ore deposits of over 12.8 million tons of 0.6 percent copper and 15.2 million ounces of 0.2 grams per ton of gold, the Tampakan Copper and Gold Project is reportedly the biggest of its kind in Southeast Asia and the Western pacific region.
Its financial technical assistance agreement (FTAA) was first owned by Western Mining Corporation, which abandoned the project in the late 90's after strong opposition from environmentalists and the Catholic Church.
WMC sold its rights to Indophil in 2002, which in turn sought financial backing from Xstrata.
In 2007, Xstrata exercised its option over the project and strengthened its position in the company by cornering 62.5 percent of the SMI.
