Alsons Group offers to acquire Indophil for $320 M

MANILA, Philippines - The Alcantara-led Alsons Group has made an all-cash takeover bid for Australia-based gold and copper miner Indophil Resources Ltd.

In a disclosure to the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday, Indophil said it received an offer from Alsons Prime Investments Corp. for the acquisition of all shares in the Australian mining company that the Alsons Group still don’t own for A$0.30 in cash.

The offer represents a 43 percent premium over Indophil’s closing price at the ASX yesterday, and values the Australian company at A$361 million or about $320.3 million.

 “The proposal from Alsons offers Indophil shareholders a significant premium and value certainty.  A transaction with APIC enables Indophil shareholders to realise their investment in Indophil and avoid exposure to the development risks which would need to be overcome in order to bring the Tampakan Project into production,” said Indophil chairman Brian Phillips.

Indophil owns 37.5 percent of Sagittarius Mines Inc., the operator for the Tampakan mine project in South Cotabato, Mindanao which is believed to be one of the biggest undeveloped copper and gold mines in Southeast Asia.

Glencore PLC,  which owns 13.1 percent of Indophil and 62.5 percent of the project itself, intends to accept the offer in the absence of a superior proposal.

Founded by Western Mining in 1992, Tampakan is hounded by a number of issues, including the local province’s ban on open-cut mining and attacks by Communist insurgents.

The acquisition is subject to the approval of Indophil shareholders, the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board and other regulations by the Australian government.

APIC needs to secure the approval of at least 75 percent of Indophil stockholders in order for the sale to be carried out.  The deal is expected to be completed on or before Jan. 31, 2015.

Its financial adviser for this proposed transaction is Credit Suisse while funding will likely come from the SM group’s Banco De Oro.

The project was reported to have an estimated “deposits of 2.94 billion tons JORC-compliant mineral resource containing approximately 15 million tons of copper and 18 million ounces of gold.”

 “Tampakan is projected to produce 375,000 tons of copper and 360,000 ounces of gold per year in the initial mine-life of 17 years, with potential for mine-life extension,” Indophil said.

Aside from the Tampakan mine, Indophil also has ongoing exploration projects in Manat in Eastern Mindanao as well as stakes in the Balatoc Copper-Gold and Itogon Gold projects in Northern Luzon.

 APIC is a member of the Alsons Group, which has major investments in energy and power, property development, aquaculture and agribusiness and mining.