JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - JSE-listed Firestone Energy on Friday welcomed the rejection by one of its major shareholders of the hostile takeover bid by ASX-listed Range River Gold and reiterated its recommendation that other shareholders follow suit.
BBY Nominees, which holds a 16.9% stake in Firestone, declined the offer, restating its confidence in Firestone.
“We confirm that we will not be accepting the offer as currently presented to Firestone shareholders. We believe Firestone is in the best position to advance the development and future production of the Waterberg coal project,” said BBY CEO Arun Maharaj.
Firestone continued to state that the offer was “inadequate and opportunistic” and failed to provide its shareholders with appropriate value for their shares despite Range River improving its offer earlier this month.
Range River was now offering Firestone shareholders 1.25 of its own shares for every two Firestone shares held, up from its initial offer of one of its own shares for every two Firestone shares held when it first launched the hostile takeover bid at the end of last year.
In an updated independent expert’s report, released on Thursday, Deloitte Corporate Finance stood by its initial assessment that the proposed takeover by Range River was “neither fair nor reasonable” to Firestone shareholders.
“We have considered the new information and have completed our analysis of the effect of the new information on our opinion. Our opinion has not changed ... ,” said Deloitte director Nicki Ivory.
Firestone renewed its recommendation that shareholders reject the offer.