October 16, 2008

Antam expects shareholder approval for Herald acquisition

Thomson Financial reported that Indonesia's state gold and nickel miner PT Antam will hold a shareholder meeting on April 18 to seek approval for its proposed acquisition of Australian base metals miner Herald Resources.

If shareholders reject the plan, Antam is not allowed to hold another meeting for the same purpose for the following 12 months.

On January 30th 2008, a consortium of Antam and Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet Co Ltd of China submitted a cash offer of AUD 2.5 per share for the entire issued capital of Herald Resources. Herald's board of directors have unanimously recommended that in the absence of a superior bid, shareholders accept the offer from the Antam Shenzhen consortium through their joint venture Tango Mining Pte Ltd.

The offer trumped a previous bid by coal giant PT Bumi Resources of AUD 2.25 a share. Bumi has extended the offer period to submit a counter bid to April 4 from March 14th 2008.