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westaussieon Apr 17, 2007 1:35am
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Next door neighbours
Next door neighboursFor ALZ holders here is a newspaper artcle about OmegaCorp and the takeover from Denison Mines. Keep in mind ALZ have uranium closeby to OmegaCorp in Zambia.
Former Test spinner puts his pitch for OmegaCorp
14th April 2007, 11:00 WST
Flamboyant former England Test cricket Phil Edmonds has launched a $222 million bid for Perth uranium miner OmegaCorp in a last-ditch attempt to scuttle an already agreed deal with Canada’s Denison Mines.
Mr Edmonds launched the bid through his £693 million ($1.66 billion) London-listed vehicle Central African Mining Exploration (CAMEC), which has offered one of its shares for each OmegaCorp unit. CAMEC is listed on London’s junior AIM market.
The deal values OmegaCorp at $1.44 a share and was announced just hours before yesterday’s 3.30pm deadline for OmegaCorp shareholders to accept Denison’s rival $1.15-a-share cash offer.
CAMEC has locked in support from shareholders controlling 19.9 per cent of OmegaCorp, including London hedge fund manager RAB Capital, but still requires Foreign Investment Review Board approval.
OmegaCorp chairman Ian Middlemas and managing director Matthew Yates, who have already recommended Denison’s offer, would not comment on CAMEC’s rival bid.
Denison, which by the bid deadline had amassed only a 33.1 per cent stake in OmegaCorp, also remained silent.
OmegaCorp’s shares jumped 12.5¢ to $1.42.
CAMEC chief executive Andrew Groves said his company had a project execution track record in Africa and the ability to "fund projects and rapidly crystallise their value".
CAMEC’s main focus has been on the Luita copper-cobalt project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which should produce 40,000 tonnes of copper cathode and 6000 tonnes of cobalt cathode and carbonate in 2007-08 before more than doubling output the following year.
Given the soaring uranium price — yellowcake hit a 40-year high of $US113/pound last week — CAMEC has extended the search for minerals on its Congo properties to include uranium.
Mr Groves said the addition of OmegaCorp’s advanced projects in Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zimbabwe would create a regionally focused uranium division with sufficient scale to “rapidly advance” the target’s portfolio.
CAMEC is the main listed vehicle chaired by Mr Edmonds, a left-arm orthodox spinner who played 51 Tests for England between 1975 and 1987. When he retired from cricket, he focused first on property but quickly recognised the AIM market’s appetite for speculative mining stocks.
Mr Edmonds has a £28.4 million stake in CAMEC and also chairs the £50.6 million Central African Gold.
But his most spectacular move came two years ago when he listed White Nile.
Within days of listing at 10p, White Nile shares soared to £1.38 on speculation it was close to finalising the acquisition of the huge Block Ba oilfield in war-stricken southern Sudan. Block Ba is thought to contain up to six billion barrels of oil but ownership of the block is yet to be resolved.
But whereas White Nile claims to have struck the deal with the southern Sudanese rebel government, French oil giant Total alleges its pre-civil war deal over Block Ba with the Sudan remains in place.
PETER KLINGER