Khan frowns on Macusani-Southern Andes tie-up
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canada’s Khan Resources, which owns 14.4% of Macusani Yellowcake, said on Friday it will vote against the company’s proposed merger with Southern Andes Energy.
The TSX V-listed company said it was against the deal, first slated in February, because it would cause “substantial dilution of its interest without clear benefits”.
Macusani wants to buy Southern Andes to increase its landholding in a Peruvian uranium district where Cameco and junior Fission Energy also owns properties.
Under the deal’s terms, Southern Andes shareholders will receive 0.8 Macusani share for each share they own.
If completed, Macusani shareholders will owns just under two-thirds of the combined company, with Southern Andes shareholders owning the remainder.
Khan, which is involved in a legal battle with Russia’s Atomredmetzoloto over uranium licences in Mongolia, said the deal will dilute its ownership of Macusani to 9.2%.
Directors, management and other shareholders representing a total 27% of Macusani’s shares had agreed to vote in favour of the deal, Macusani said in February.
In an interview on Wednesday, Macusani CEO Peter Hooper said shareholders wanted his company to do the deal.
“And if we didn’t take out Southern Andes, somebody else would have,” he told Mining Weekly Online.
Both sets of shareholders will need to vote in favour of the deal for it to go ahead.
Macusani plans to release a preliminary economic assessment on a five-million-pound-a-year mine at its Peruvian project, and increase the resource in the Macusani Plateau to 55-million to 65-million pounds by the end of this year.
Following that, the target is to lift the resource to as much as 100-million in 2013, said Hooper.
Edited by: Creamer Media Reporter
The TSX V-listed company said it was against the deal, first slated in February, because it would cause “substantial dilution of its interest without clear benefits”.
Macusani wants to buy Southern Andes to increase its landholding in a Peruvian uranium district where Cameco and junior Fission Energy also owns properties.
Under the deal’s terms, Southern Andes shareholders will receive 0.8 Macusani share for each share they own.
If completed, Macusani shareholders will owns just under two-thirds of the combined company, with Southern Andes shareholders owning the remainder.
Khan, which is involved in a legal battle with Russia’s Atomredmetzoloto over uranium licences in Mongolia, said the deal will dilute its ownership of Macusani to 9.2%.
Directors, management and other shareholders representing a total 27% of Macusani’s shares had agreed to vote in favour of the deal, Macusani said in February.
In an interview on Wednesday, Macusani CEO Peter Hooper said shareholders wanted his company to do the deal.
“And if we didn’t take out Southern Andes, somebody else would have,” he told Mining Weekly Online.
Both sets of shareholders will need to vote in favour of the deal for it to go ahead.
Macusani plans to release a preliminary economic assessment on a five-million-pound-a-year mine at its Peruvian project, and increase the resource in the Macusani Plateau to 55-million to 65-million pounds by the end of this year.
Following that, the target is to lift the resource to as much as 100-million in 2013, said Hooper.
Edited by: Creamer Media Reporter
Comments
Post a Comment