Bidding interest in Caledon Resources hots up after collapse of Polo merger
A BIDDING war for Australian coking coal producer Caledon Resources has been ignited after merger talks with rival Polo Resources fell through last month.
Aim-listed Caledon told the stock exchange yesterday that it had received “a number of unsolicited and indicative enquiries from third parties in respect of possible alternative transactions, one of which relates to an indicative offer for the company”.
The firm stressed that the enquiries were at a very early stage and that there was no certainty that the discussions would result in a firm offer coming forth.
Caledon was forced into making a statement after its shares jumped this week, adding almost a quarter of their value in just two days.
The firm struck an agreement in principle with Polo at the end of April, which would have given its shareholders 11.4 Polo shares for every one of their own, equivalent to a price of 61.56p per Caledon share.
But the deal eventually fell through in late June, an event Caledon managing director Mark Trevan said was “a reflection of the difficulties presented by the current market environment”.
Instead, the company placed 7.1m shares with Polo at 30p per share, raising gross proceeds of £2.13m which the group said would be used to bolster its working capital.