TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – There was no shortage of investors calling KGHM’s near-C$3-billion December bid for Vancouver’s Quadra FNX Mining cheap, but the target said on Monday Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) said shareholders should give it the thumbs up.

“There have been no alternate offers and there are no governance concerns,” Quadra quoted the ISS report as saying. ISS is a corporate governance analysis and proxy voting firm.

Poland’s KGHM made the C$15.00-a-share cash offer on December 6, which represented a 41.3% premium to the 20 day volume weighted average price up to the prior day’s close.

Some analysts called the bid opportunistic, and too low, saying a competing bidder was likely to emerge.

Not all were critical of it, however, with New Jersey-based Very Independent Research analyst John Tumazos saying at the time that KGHM simply had good timing, and that an interloper was unlikely.

Quadra FNX CEO Paul Blythe said he was pleased that ISS had given the deal its stamp of approval.

“Shareholders have the opportunity to realise a significant premium on their investment,” he said in a media release.

Quadra FNX’s owners are set to vote on the deal at a February 20 meeting.

The company owns mines in Canada, the US and Chile.
 

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