South African miner Sibanye-Stillwater has made a £285m all-stock offer for platinum producer Lonmin, signalling an end to a century-old company that is one of the world’s largest producers of the metal.
London-listed Lonmin has struggled to make money as the price of platinum dropped 45 per cent over the past five years.
Sibanye, an acquisitive South African company run by Neal Froneman, made an offer for Lonmin that will give shareholders 0.967 new Sibanye-Stillwater shares for each Lonmin share, implying a premium of 57 per cent to Wednesday’s closing price.
Shares in Lonmin rose more than 20 per cent on the news to trade at 76.75p. Following completion of the acquisition, Lonmin shareholders will own 11.3 per cent of enlarged company.
“After a lot of careful examination, the board recommended this offer as it’s in the best interests of our shareholders and all our stakeholders,” said Ben Magara, chief executive of Lonmin.
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