KAZ Minerals Chairman makes improved bid for the company

A consortium trying to take KAZ Minerals PLC (LON:KAZ) private has raised its offer for the company to £7.80 per share. The bid from Nova Resources – the consortium headed by KAZ Minerals chair Oleg Novachuk – would value the company as approximately £3.7bln.

Nova Resources had previously made a bid for the London-listed miner in October last year. At the time, shares were trading at £5.124 so today’s offer represents a 52% premium to the share price on the day of the first bid. The bid was rejected by minority shareholders on the basis that it undervalued the company.

Novachuk’s consortium say the offer has been unanimously recommended by an Independent Committee of KAZ Minerals. Commenting on the offer, Novachuk said, “We are pleased to have reached agreement with KAZ Minerals’ Independent Committee as to the terms of a recommended transaction recognising the changing risk profile of the business.”

Rationale
The consortium believes there is a strong rationale for the takeover given the company’s shift to a capital-intensive strategy. “Whilst the Baimskaya project is one of the world’s most exciting undeveloped copper assets, the implementation risks are substantial,” Novachuk said. “We believe that KAZ Minerals’ long term interests are now best served as a private organisation,” the chairman added.

The latest offer has been neither rejected nor accepted and it is unclear whether it will gain full support of shareholders. However, Nova did not declare this their final offer, meaning if the opportunity were to arise they could increase their bid again.