BELGRADE (Serbia), November 7 (SeeNews) – China's Zijin Mining Group has received the second of three required regulatory approvals from the Chinese government for its prposed friendly takeover bid of metals company Nevsun Resources, which runs the Timok copper-gold project in Serbia, Nevsun said.
The second approval was granted by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, Nevsun said in a statement last week.
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With the previously announced National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) approval in hand, Zijin will submit, as soon as practicable, an application to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) for the third and final regulatory approval required as a condition of the offer, Nevsun said.
In September, Zijin offered $1.41 billion (1.23 billion euro) to acquire Nevsun, the 100% owner of the high-grade copper-gold Timok Upper Zone and 60.4% owner of the Timok Lower Zone in Serbia.
Zijin's offer is all cash consideration of 6.00 Canadian dollars ($4.6/4.0 euro) per Nevsun share representing a premium of 57% over Nevsun's unaffected closing price of 3.82 Canadian dollars on May 7, 2018. In addition, the Zijin offer is 1.25 Canadian dollars per Nevsun share, or 26%, more than the 4.75 Canadian dollars per share hostile takeover bid for Nevsun launched by Lundin Mining Corporation on July 26, 2018.
The transaction is also subject to approval under the Investment Canada Act and customary closing conditions.
($ = 0.870176 euro)