[miningmx.com] — FIRST Uranium on Tuesday confirmed an earlier by report by Miningmx, announcing it has received an $80m counter offer for Ezulwini from Waterpan Mining Corporation (WMC) and Transalloys – a subsidiary of Russia’s Renova.
First Uranium said it was an unsolicited offer, and among the conditions precedent was the requirement to have 90 days from May 1 to undertake a due diligence review of the business.
“Following that due diligence exercise, WMC and Transalloys envisaged being in a position to make a definitive offer by August 1, 2012,” read a company statement.
“The non-binding proposal suggested the acquirors would consider an advance of $10m of the $80m proposed purchase price to the Corporation as a form of short term bridge financing, however such advance would not be considered until after the completion of the due diligence exercise and no other terms with respect to such bridge financing were provided for in the letter.”
The proposal would imply an extension of the time period to approve the transaction beyond the June 30, 2012, maturity date of First Uranium’s C$150 million convertible debentures.
Below is the report published by Miningmx on Monday evening.
RUSSIA’S Renova was said to be bidding $80m for First
Uranium’s Ezulwini, trumping an earlier offer of Gold One International by $10m.
Renova made its offer in conjunction with Waterpan Mining Consortium, which held a
minority stake in Ezulwini until 2007.
“The final price is subject to due diligence, but the non-binding offer is $80m plus
$10m in a bridge loan,’ a minority shareholder in First Uranium told
Miningmx.
Renova didn’t respond to questions over the bid amount, while First Uranium was yet
to confirm the existence of a rival bid for Ezulwini at the time of publishing. Calls to
CEO Deon van der Mescht and company secretary Mary Batoff went unanswered.
Gold One CEO Neal Froneman also didn’t comment, saying it was a matter for First
Uranium to deal with.
Bloomberg on Friday first reported on Renova and Waterpan’s bid for Ezulwini,
quoting directors of the respective companies without mentioning an offer amount.
First Uranium announced in March it was disposing of its key assets to service debts
totalling C$320m. In addition to Gold One offering $70m and a $10m credit facility for
Ezulwini, AngloGold Ashanti agreed to pay $335m for Mine Waste Solutions.
Minority shareholders have repeatedly said these deals were done too cheaply, saying
Mine Waste Solutions has a net present value of C$700m, while Ezulwini’s
infrastructure is worth C$150m.
Gold One, in its original agreement with First Uranium, has the right to match any superior offer for Ezulwini within five days.
