Alsons eyes takeover of Indophil Resources

MANILA, Philippines–The Alcantara-led Alsons Group is seeking to acquire 100 percent of Australia’s Indophil Resources NL, which owns a 37.5-percent stake in the massive Tampakan mining project in Mindanao, which has stalled partly due to regulatory difficulties.

Privately held Alsons Prime Investments Corp. which, together with affiliates, already owns about 20 percent of Indophil, has offered to acquire all Indophil shares it does not yet own for 0.30 Australian dollars per share, a filing in the Australian Stock Exchange showed.

At that price, the deal was valued at 361 million Australian dollars, about P14.3 billion.

The offer, priced at a 43-percent premium to Indophil’s closing price before the announcement, would place into Filipino hands a significant portion of the $6 billion Tampakan project, which is controlled by Switzerland-based Glencore Plc.

Other minority shareholders of Indophil include Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Philex Mining Corp. and San Miguel Corp.

In the filing, Indophil’s independent directors “unanimously recommend that all Indophil shareholders vote in favor of the scheme in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to an independent expert finding that the scheme is in the best interests of shareholders.”

Glencore Queensland Ltd., Indophil’s second-biggest shareholder after Alsons, “advises that its intention is to vote to approve the scheme at the Indophil scheme meeting.”