RE: Warrants19 Jan 2025 09:11
Colin Bird a gambler eh ? You have not really done your homework very well have you ? Are you aware that Colin Bird in essence created the modern-day First Quantum when he sold Kiwara to them some 15 years back. Nice gambling !! What nonsense.
First Quantum buys Kiwara for $260 million
By Reuters
November 23, 2009
By Eric Onstad and Cameron French
LONDON/TORONTO (Reuters) - First Quantum Minerals has agreed to buy Kiwara Plc in a cash and share deal worth $260 million to expand its copper mining operations in Zambia, the companies said on Monday.
London shares of Kiwara, which owns the Kalumbila copper project in Zambia, jumped 30.2 percent to 68-1/2 pence after the agreed deal was announced. The shares had nearly tripled so far this year before Monday's news as copper prices recovered.
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First Quantum, based in Vancouver, was up 5.3 percent at C$79.38 midway through the Toronto trading session.
First Quantum said it had received commitments from shareholders representing 76 percent of Kiwara shares to accept the offer, which has also been recommended by Kiwara's board.
"We believe our many years of successful operations in the copper belt, and Zambia in particular, will be beneficial in the development and eventual operation of the new assets," First Quantum Chief Executive Philip Pascall said in a statement.
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Under the deal, Kiwara shareholders will receive 0.0085 First Quantum shares and 37.5 pence for every Kiwara share held. First Quantum will issue about 1.9 million shares, which will dilute its shares by about 2.4 percent, according to Reuters data.
The implied value per Kiwara share is 75 pence, a 41.5 percent premium to the closing price of Kiwara on Friday.
"Kiwara has recognized that the Kalumbila project and indeed the license area in general, has potential well in excess of our current resource capability," Kiwara Chairman Colin Bird said. Kiwara is also listed in Johannesburg .
Pierre Vaillancourt, an analyst at Macquarie Equities Research, said Kalumbila could eventually compare in size to First Quantum's Kansanshi mine, also located in Zambia, which produces about 250,000 tons of copper a year.
He also said he believed First Quantum might consider reducing its 16 percent interest in Zambia-focused copper miner Equinox Minerals as a result of the deal.
First Quantum also has operations in Democratic Republic of Congo and Mauritania.
The acquisition comes as First Quantum has faced increasing uncertainty over the future of its Kolwezi copper project in DRC.
The company stopped construction of the project in September after the government cancelled its contract as part of a broad review of the country's mining industry.
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