As a Stratex shareholder I do not feel there is currently enough information out there to make an informed decision on this transaction. Many Stratex shareholders have averages above 3p (some 4p-5p) verses the current 1.4p, for these folk to just get their money back the new entity would need a valuation of £75m-£100m against the current value of Crusader of £25m.
Without the transaction Stratex would only need a valuation of £14m - £20m for that 3p-4p 'target' to be attained, a smaller deal or some form of modest corporate action may be considered a better bet by many holders in a rising gold equity sector.
As a Crusader shareholder I would want to know what level of dilution/debt the new entity will take on to deliver enhanced shareholder value, namely, to bring a project into production. You will get the opportunity of a London listing which should deliver significant volumes of shares traded and hopefully this would drive a re-rate, there are no guarantees. There may also be a share consolidation as 2.4 billion shares in issue is fairly rare on the AIM market these days.
I point out that an all paper offer does not normally deliver the share price uplift in the same way as a cash offer.
Since the transaction announcement the Stratex share price has plummeted to a 12 month low, investors are not happy to say the least.
Marcus Englebrecht was brought into Stratex to bring about change and deliver value but so far he has sold Stratex's main asset, a 45% stake in a newly producing 35k ounces per annum gold mine in Turkey for a derisory $8m and has now decided to dilute the hell out of Stratex's long suffering shareholders by doing a proposed transaction 'priced' near bottom of the Stratex 12 month trading range.
I think the boards of both companies need to deliver to shareholders a clear mission statement on the exact way forward.
These are my personal opinions and no advice is intended.
CAS Price at posting:
11.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
