PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Silver Lake Resources is proving persistent in its suit for ASX-listed St Barbara’s Leonora assets, with the company again providing a revised nonbinding and indicative offer for the assets, this time with improved conditionality which it said addressed St Barbara’s concerns around the requirement for financer due diligence.
St Barbara in May announced that it would not engage with Silver Lake over the potential sale of the Leonora assets, claiming the suitor’s offer was made at a time that caused maximum disruption to St Barbara’s completion of its transaction agreement with ASX-listed Genesis Minerals.
St Barbara also stated that Silver Lake’s conditional proposal remained nonbinding and unacceptably conditional, contrasting to the fully documented, fully financed and shareholder-supported binding agreement from Genesis.
The implied value of the Silver Lake proposal is A$718-million, comprising A$370-million in cash and 327.1-million Silver Lake shares valued at $348-million.
Silver Lake on Wednesday said that its newly revised nonbinding and indicative offer addressed some of St Barbara’s concerns.
Silver Lake told shareholders that Taurus Mining Finance Fund No 2 LP, the provider of a $150-million credit-approved acquisition facility, has progressed the facility to the point that it is subject only to legal due diligence and execution of definitive documentation.
“If the St Barbara board listens to its major shareholders and grants due diligence access to Silver Lake on or before June 5, there is still time for Silver Lake to complete those enquiries in order to be able to progress the Silver Lake proposal to the binding offer stage before St Barbara shareholders are required to vote on the Genesis proposal,” the suitor said.
St Barbara has acknowledged the receipt of the resubmission of the nonbinding, indicative and conditional proposal, but had little else to say, sticking to its decision not to engage with Silver Lake.
St Barbara shareholders are set to meet on June 5 to decide on Genesis’ A$631-million offer consisting of an up-front cash payment of A$370-million, the issue of 152.8-million shares in Genesis, and an additional 52.2-million performance rights in Genesis, valued at A$60-million, which will be issued immediately upon the completion of the transaction.