Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Takeover target Atlas Iron on Friday confirmed that suitor Mineral Resources (MinRes) had amended certain clauses in the takeover offer, dropping the no-shop, no-talk and no due diligence clauses.
Atlas told shareholders that the amendments to the offer allowed the company to explore “discussions” with other parties.
The announcement comes after iron-ore major Fortescue took an effective 19.9% shareholding in Atlas earlier this week. Forescue also said it will not support MinRes’ proposed takeover bid on its current terms.
However, the miner did reserve the right to change its mind about supporting the MinRes offer.
MinRes struck a merger deal with Atlas in April, offering shareholders one new MinRes share for every 571 Atlas shares held. Based on the closing price of both companies’ share price before the offer, the offer valued Atlas shares at 3.02c a share, a 59% premium to the company’s last closing price.