Minmetals

China Minmetals Corporation, founded in 1950, is a large-sized group dealing worldwide in development, production, trading and operation for metals and minerals. It is also engaged in finance, real estate and logistics.

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Minmetals lifts Oz Minerals bid by 15pct to seal takeover

2009-06-12 by Ross Louthean, Mineweb.net

The decision by China's big mining and metals house Minmetals to lift its bid for OZ Minerals Ltd (ASX: OZL) proved the checkmating move at today's meeting of OZ Minerals shareholders in Melbourne.

The Minmetals bid was lifted 15% last night to $A1.7 billion ($US1.39 B) about the time that a refinancing bid by Macquarie Bank was withdrawn.

The late sweetener was undoubtedly partly due to Minmetals seeing Chinalco losing its bid for control of Rio Tinto, and also because there was considerable criticism over the value of the original bid, as well as the performance of the OZ Minerals board who had seen the company transform this year from a company that 12 months ago had $A1.2 B ($US0.97 B) in the bank to owing banks more than that amount.

This afternoon OZ Minerals detailed results of the proposal for Minmetals to take over the company - minus some mining assets -- and shareholders gave strong support for the proposal with 1.316 billion votes for, 107 million against and 11.9 M abstaining.

The meeting also re-elected director Michael Eager, but high profile business media commentator Stephen Mayne failed in a bid to join the board. OZ Minerals' chief executive Andrew Michelmore is leaving the company to take up a position with Minmetals.

China Minmetals Non-Ferrous Metals Co Ltd will gain most of the key assets of OZ Minerals -- the Sepon copper-gold mines in Laos; the Golden Grove zinc-copper-lead operation in Western Australia; Century zinc mine in Queensland, Rosebery zinc-lead-silver operations in Tasmania; the mothballed Avebury nickel mine in Tasmania; Dugald River zinc project in Queensland; High Lake zinc project in Canada; Izok Lake zinc project in Canada and a large portfolio of exploration properties.

The new Prominent Hill gold-copper mine in South Australia stays with the re-shaped OZ Minerals, while the Martabe gold project in Indonesia has already had Foreign Investment Board approval to be sold to China Sci-Tech Holdings Ltd.

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