RE: Rio Narcea will be happyJust for the record I suppose if the CHD's shareholders overturn the pp then RNG will be allowed to buy more stock. If the stock is at todays levels then maybe CHD shareholders get what we deserve. That is RNG as an owner that can thwart a legitimate bid by not tendering to a buyout. Maybe RNG plays it into a minority position as part of a deal. We still lose I believe whenever you give up control of your assets. CHD shareholders are giving away fractions of the mine each time when they sell to RNG . If RNG ends up with 40% ( they are at roughly 20% now ) we have sold off 28% of our project to them. Another 60 million shares might push us to a $1 or more. But think about it. if RNG is prepared to buy the stock in the open market ( and avoid a premium) what are we really worth. I would suggest we are worth something more in a competitive situation. CHD needs to control their destiny and until all is known I am prepared to cut Ulli and his gang some slack with a pp. Shareholders can always entertain a legitimate bid from any suitor including RNG. The pp does not preclude that. In my view RNG is taking advantage of us before CHD gets their act together when you consider that we are trading at 30% or so of what our peers are. Good for RNG if they can get the stock. Hopefully by July there will be less mystery surrounding the project and by then the economics of the mine will be clear including answers on the metallurgy if indeed that is an issue.
One last thought. Given there has been no disclosure on someone new taking up over 10%
of CHD stock ther must be a bunch of fund managers who loaded up in anticipation of a take out. If CHD were trading at even a 20% discount to its peers in a buyout you are looking at a fat price before any kind of premium. Time will tell if mgmt are the sharpest knives in the drawer but I would suggest that some fund managers are betting they will pull it off. Fund positions are disclosed I believe at the end of March /07 so we wait to see who bought and who sold. In the meantime we are up 10% off the low of the week and back near 80. Fun to watch the games being played.
Coyote13