Australia-listed coal miner Universal Coal on Tuesday confirmed that it had received a conditional, nonbinding offer from a consortium of investors, led by South African mining finance and private equity firm Ata Resources.
Ata is proposing a cash offer of A$0.35 a share for Universal and reportedly has an irrevocable undertaking from a 27.5% shareholder to vote in favour of the scheme.
The takeover proposal drove the company’s stock nearly 7% higher to A$0.32 a share, just short of the 52-week high of A$0.33 a share that was reached in July this year.
Universal, which operates in South Africa’s Mpumalanga coalfields, cautioned that there was no certainty that the proposal would result in a binding offer.
Independent directors would meet soon to consider the details of the nonbinding indicative offer.
Ata is proposing the delisting of Universal should a takeover succeed.
Universal owns the two thermal mines, Kangala and NCC Roodekop near Witbank, as well as the Ubuntu coal project, in Delmas. Its coking coal asset is the Berenice/Cygnus coal project, in the Soutpansberg coalfield.