Hanlong clears hurdle in bid for stake in Moly Mines
Shanghai. November 18. INTERFAX-CHINA - Hanlong Mining Investment Pty Ltd., a subsidiary of privately-held Sichuan Province-based Hanlong Group Co. Ltd., announced on Nov. 18 that it has been given the green light by Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) to acquire a controlling stake in Moly Mines Ltd.
Hanlong Mining will acquire a 51 percent stake in the Australian Securities Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange-listed Moly Mines as well as 35.5 million Moly Mines stock options which may be exercised within three years to raise its total shareholding to 55.3 percent. At present, the $200 million deal is still awaiting Chinese regulatory approval.
The acquisition is potentially the largest investment in Australia by a privately-held Chinese company, the announcement said.
"Once regulatory hurdles are cleared, Hanlong Mining and Moly Mines will jointly ramp up production in the Spinifex project, which is expected to generate RMB 10 billion ($1.46 billion) in annual sales revenue and RMB 2 billion ($292.93 million) in annual net profit," a public relations department employee from Hanlong Mining, surnamed Wang, told Interfax on Nov. 18. The Spinifex project is a base metals project operated by Moly Mines in Western Australia.
Hanlong Group is an investment company with diversified businesses in industries such as mining, food and beverage, real estate and environmental technology. Its overseas projects focus on the mining sector, including several base metal mining projects in Africa and Canada. Moly Mines has a reserve of over 1 billion tons of iron ore grading 40 percent.
-GD