Seems to me they had no option but to merge with partner who had some cash. Back in Aug 2012 SXG said they expected to be able to raise $25m in debt for Marda and have this in place by Dec 2012. Dec has passed and there is no word from them about Marda debt finance. When they had a rights issue in Aug '12 they got only 44% uptake of entitlement to raise about $4.5m. Another gold co, PGI, are paying an effective interest rate of 20% plus a swag of options to Macbank for debt funding. Debt is expensive and equity requires heavy discount. The merger with PLY makes perfect sense and the 11 SXG to 1 PLY swap seems fair to me. Problem is we have to wait 4 months for the approval.
SXG Price at posting:
3.0¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held