JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Midtier platinum-miner Aquarius Platinum and its takeover target Ridge Mining on Friday announced in a joint statement to shareholders that they had signed an implementation agreement, following which Aquarius would make an all-share offer for Ridge Mining.

Aquarius on Thursday said it would sign the agreement with Ridge Mining, subject to the successful outcome of a capital raising of up to $249-million.

The companies now said that the previously announced exchange ratio of the proposed deal of one Aquarius share for every 2,75 Ridge Mining shares would not be adjusted following the share placement announced by Aquarius.

As part of its capital raising plans, Aquarius planned to place 46,3-million new common shares, representing 14,2% of the company’s issued shares, at $0,05 a share with new and existing institutional investors on March 31 and April 1 to raise about £125-million.

On Thursday, CEO Stuart Murray commented that it remained confident that the proposed transaction represented a “desirable” outcome for both companies.

Ridge Mining CEO Terence Wilkinson said in a statement that being part of a larger group would, to some extent, insulate its shareholders from the many problems facing smaller and single-mine producers in the current economic climate.

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