Gina Rinehart makes $390m takeover bid Atlas Iron
Gina Rinehart has made a takeover bid for 100 per cent of Atlas Iron's shares, as the intriguing battle for control of the junior iron ore miner heats up.
Atlas, which went into a trading halt earlier on Monday, said Redstone Corp, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting, had made a cash takeover bid pitched at 4.2¢ a share.
The offer is not conditional on due diligence, financing, regulatory approval or further internal approvals. Atlas said its board would evaluate the bid and give shareholders a recommendation "in due course".
Before the trading halt, Atlas shares were trading at 3.6¢ a share.
Mrs Rinehart last week joined those vying for control of the company, disclosing a 19.96 per cent stake in Atlas via Hancock Prospecting. Her takeover bid is not subject to any minimum acceptance conditions.
Earlier in June, Fortescue Metals announced it had built up a 19.9 per cent stake in Atlas, large enough to block Atlas's planned takeover by Mineral Resources for $280 million, announced in April.
Shares in Atlas fell sharply last week, after it was notified that its North West Infrastructure (NWI) joint venture did not have priority rights to develop certain shipping berths at Port Hedland in Western Australia.
NWI, which is a joint venture with Brockman Mining and FerrAus, has the capacity to export 50 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of iron ore from the South-West Creek project located at Port Hedland.
More to come
With Reuters