From The West Australian 24/6
Aquila Resources was close to signing a significant deal to sell-down its 50 per cent holding in the Eagle Downs coking coal project in Queensland when Aurizon and Baosteel unveiled a $1.4 billion bid for the company in May.
Aquila's target statement, released on Friday, revealed the company was "well advanced" in discussions to sell down its Eagle Downs holding, held in partnership with Brazil's Vale.
The partners had already spent about $120 million on early work.
Independent experts Grant Samuel valued Aquila's share of the under-construction 4.5 million tonne a year coal project at $400-$500 million.
This raised the prospect that Aquila could have added hundreds of millions of dollars to its cash $507 million backing as the result of a part sale of the project, while at the same time reducing its estimated $800 million capital outlay, had negotiations not been interrupted by the bid.
The existence of a ready buyer for Eagle Downs raises the prospect Baosteel and Aurizon could put the project back on the block immediately. This would provide a quick turnaround to pull back in some of their $1.4 billion outlay on Aquila.
Chairman Tony Poli and the Aquila board last week recommended accepting the $3.40 bid in the absence of a better offer.
The bidders yesterday urged Aquila shareholders to take up their offer as soon as possible, again saying they would not consider raising the bid price.
When launching their takeover bid for the WA mine developer in May, Baosteel and Aurizon committed to launching a strategic review of Aquila's assets within 30 days of winning control.
They would look for a way to accelerate development of Aquila's West Pilbara iron ore project, and potentially sell "non-core assets" - potentially including Eagle Downs, the Washpool project in Queensland and Aquila's iron ore and manganese assets in South Africa.
The independent expert report, which valued Aquila shares at $3.90 to $5.24 and said the offer was reasonable but not fair, valued Washpool at $25-$50 million, and Aquila's South Africa projects at $175 million to $275 million.
If a sale of the assets were to realise anywhere close to the Grant Samuel valuations, Aurizon and Baosteel could wind up paying next to nothing for the 40mtpa West Pilbara iron ore project, the major target of their bid, when Aquila's cash position is taken into account.
AQA Price at posting:
$3.38 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
