Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Takeover target Essential Metals has called a shareholder meeting on October 18 to vote on the takeover offer from fellow listed Develop Global.
The two companies in July this year entered into a binding scheme of implementation deed under which Develop would acquire Essential, offering shareholders one new Develop share for every 6.18 Essential shares held.
The offer values Essential at around A$152.6-million, and placed a value of 56c a share on Essential’s share price. This implied a premium of 34.9% to Essential’s last closing price and a 30.8% premium to the company’s 20-day volume weighted average share price.
The Develop offer was also offered a 62.3% premium to Essential’s share price prior to a January takeover offer by Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia (TLEA), which had proposed to acquire all the shares in Essential for 50c a share in cash. Essential shareholders voted against the TLEA deal in April this year.
Essential on Friday released its scheme booklet to shareholders, which also contained the independent expert report. This report concluded that the scheme was not fair, but was reasonable, and in the best interest of Essential shareholders in the absence of a superior offer.
The Essential board continues to unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favour of the transaction, in the absence of a superior bid.