Impala Proposes Acquisition of Mvelaphanda and Northam

Impala Platinum (Implats) reported in early October that it has proposed a transaction to the boards of Mvelaphanda Resources and Northam Platinum to acquire the entire issued share capital of the two companies. Payment would be through a combination of Implats shares (70%) and cash (30%) valued at the time of the announcement at about $2.5 billion. Mvela currently owns 62.8% of Northam.

Northam operates integrated platinum group metals mining, processing and smelting operations on the western limb of the Bushveld Complex. A key minerals asset involved in the transaction is Northam’s yet-to-be-developed Booysendal deposit, which has a resource of 103 million oz of platinum group metals.

The transactions require the approval of Mvela and Northam shareholders, as well as approval by South Africa’s competition authorities and its Department of Minerals and Energy. Closure of the transaction is expected to take place during the first quarter of 2009.

As featured in Womp 08 Vol 9 - www.womp-int.com