Under the revised offer, St Barbara shareholders will receive A$370m ($245.6m) in cash and 327.1 million shares of Silver Lake Resources, which are worth A$352m ($233.6m)
Silver Lake Resources revises proposal to purchase St Barbara’s Leonora assets in Western Australia for A$722m. (Credit: Herbert Aust from Pixabay)
Australian gold producer Silver Lake Resources has again revised its indicative proposal to purchase St Barbara’s Leonora assets in Western Australia to A$722m ($479m).
Under the revised offer, St Barbara’s shareholders will receive A$370m ($245.6m) in cash and 327.1 million shares of Silver Lake Resources, which are worth A$352m ($233.6m).
Earlier this month, Silver Lake Resources offered an increased price of A$707m ($469m) under which St Barbara’s shareholders were expected to receive A$326m ($216m) in cash.
It came after St Barbara’s rejection of Silver Lake Resources’ previous offer of A$732m ($486m) citing a lack of synergies and a lower cash component.
St Barbara had then backed Genesis Minerals’ bid of A$600m ($398m) for the acquisition of the former’s Gwalia mine and adjacent exploration and development assets in the Leonora region.
According to Silver Lake Resources, the increased cash component in the improved proposal by A$44m ($29m) matches the upfront cash consideration of Genesis Minerals’ proposal.
Silver Lake Resources said that the revised bid will enable St Barbara to retain 94.8 million of the former’s shares upon the completion of the transaction.
The improved proposal is a 16.9% premium to its competitor Genesis Minerals’ revised bid, based on the respective disturbed volume-weighted average prices (VWAPs), since Silver Lake Resources’ original proposal.
Also, it is a 15.8% premium at the last market closing prices of Silver Lake Resources and Genesis Minerals shares on 19 May 2023.
Silver Lake Resources stated: “Silver Lake confirms it remains ready and willing to engage with the St Barbara board to explore a transaction that has the potential to be beneficial to both sets of shareholders, create a genuine mid-tier gold producer with immediate gold production of ~400koz p.a. and is considered by Silver Lake to be a superior outcome (if completed) for St Barbara shareholders than the existing Genesis Proposal.”