China’s Zhaojin Capital has won control of Australia’s Tietto Minerals after a protracted six months takeover tussle that values the gold producer at A$733 million ($474.62 million), according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday.
Zhaojin Capital, a unit of Hong Kong-listed Zhaojin Mining, now has 52.8% voting power, it said in the filing, up from 42.5% previously.
Tietto, which is Australian listed and headquartered, produces gold from its Abujar project in Ivory Coast.
Zhaojin’s victory to control more than half the company comes a day after the Tietto’s board called upon its shareholders to accept Zhaojin’s takeover bid.
The original offer of A$0.58 per share was increased on April 15 to A$0.68 per share and declared “best and final”, which meant Zhaojin could not increase its bid again.
Tietto’s board said it believed the bid still undervalued the company, but given key shareholders had accepted the offer it would change its official recommendation.
Tietto chairman Francis Harper, CEO Matthew Wilcox and non-executive director Paul Kitto said in a filing they intended to sell their stock on market if the price was not very different to Zhaojin’s offer. The trio will accept the Zhaojin offer if it is higher than the market price when the offer closes, they added.
Tietto had said earlier that two of its major shareholders might have accepted the Chinese suitor’s offer after a significant jump in the latter’s voting power to more than 42% as of April 29.
If the deal goes through, the takeover would help Zhaojin expand its mining operations overseas. The Chinese company has already received approval from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board.
($1 = 1.5444 Australian dollars)
(By Scott Murdoch and Poonam Behura; Editing by Pooja Desai, Rashmi Aich and Jamie Freed)
