Gina’s iron grip on takeover bid
MINING billionaire Gina Rinehart looks set to take control of junior Pilbara miner Atlas Iron after rival bidder Mineral Resources decided it would not make a counter offer.
An all cash bid worth $390 million from a subsidiary of Ms Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting was on Tuesday deemed by Atlas as superior to the $280 million all-scrip offer made by Mineral Resources in April.
The bid from mid-tier miner Mineral Resources was previously recommended by the Atlas board, and the company had until today to make a counter proposal.
But yesterday it said it had determined that it would not do so.
The offer from Hancock Prospecting’s Redstone represents a 44 per cent premium on the Atlas stock value before Ms Hancock and Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group each took a near-20 per cent stake in Atlas earlier this month, apparently in response to the Mineral Resources bid.
Announcing its increased ed shareholding on June 7, Fortescue said it did not intend ntend to support the takeover offer fer by Mineral Resources, but t gave no indication it would d launch a rival bid.
Atlas’ assets include a stake take in a joint venture that holds ds rights to potentially valuable ble undeveloped port capacity y in Port Hedland, which UBS analysts suggested may have ave been the focus of Fortescue’s ue’s interest.
Atlas shares jumped 22 per cent to 4.4 cents after the Hancock bid was announced ced on Monday, apparently in anticipation of an escalating ng bidding war.