ZOL.L Regulatory News (ZOL)

24 May 2005 07:45

Crosby Capital Partners Inc24 May 2005 24 May 2005 Crosby Capital Partners Inc. Potential Acquisition Crosby Capital Partners Inc. ("Crosby") announced earlier today in Australiathat it intends to make an offer to acquire, in conjunction with a consortium ofinvestors led by Crosby (together the "Crosby Group"), all the ordinary sharesin Tethyan Copper Company Limited ("Tethyan"). Tethyan is listed on theAustralian Stock Exchange (ASX: TYC). Crosby's intention to bid announcement stated: "The Crosby Group intends to make an off-market takeover bid, through a nomineecompany, for all the outstanding shares of Tethyan, including shares issued onthe exercise of outstanding options, at A$0.64 cash per share (the "Bid"),valuing Tethyan at approximately A$101 million on a fully diluted basis". As yet Crosby has only announced its intention to bid for Tethyan and underAustralian take-over regulations a Bidder's Statement would have to be submittedwithin 6 weeks of this announcement. It is unlikely that Crosby will be able toupdate its shareholders on the progress of the bid until the Bidder Statementhas been finalised. A full copy of the Intention to Bid announcement is available from Crosby'swebsite and also from the website of the Australian Stock Exchange(www.asx.com.au). Tethyan's website and its latest announcements state that it controls the RekoDiq Project in Pakistan, a giant porphyry copper and gold complex with totalIndicated and Inferred Resources of 943 million tonnes at 0.64% copper and 0.3g/t gold, containing 6 million tonnes of copper metal and 9 million ounces ofgold. A further 14 mineralised porphyry bodies are known to exist, with thepotential to place Reko Diq Project among the largest undeveloped copperresources on the globe. For the year ended 30 June 2004, Tethyan's audited consolidated accounts showeda turnover of A$379,653, a loss before taxation of A$171,827 and net assets ofA$16,531,931. For further information on Crosby Contact: Simon Fry, Chief Executive Officer +44 (0) 207 590 2800 Andy Berry, Fishburn Hedges +44 (0) 207 839 4321 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange