Toho enters takeover battle for CBH March 16, 2010 - 3:41PMAds...

Toho enters takeover battle for CBH March 16, 2010 - 3:41PM

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Japan's Toho Zinc has entered a takeover battle with Belgian zinc producer Nyrstar to acquire CBH Resources, a little known miner sitting on millions of tonnes of zinc in the Australian outback.

The winner of CBH would be able to redirect almost 60,000 tonnes of zinc in concentrate annually from CBH's Endeavor mine and a massive 750,000 tonnes of lead and zinc concentrate a year from CBH's yet-to-be-developed Rasp deposit.

"Toho does not want to let this one go, it's too important to them," said Tony Parry, a mining analyst with Resource Capital Research. "In the end, both companies want to secure long-term supplies of the concentrates that CBH promises."

Toho offered 25 cents per share for no more than 49.9 per cent of CBH today, valuing the entire company at $274 million. Its offer comes just days after Nyrstar bid $214 million or 19.5 cents per share.

CBH shares jumped 8.8 per cent to 18.5 cents in afternoon trade, while the broader market was flat.

Analysts predict that demand for zinc concentrates could outstrip supply as early as next year as the steel industries of Western Europe and the United States recover from the financial crisis.

World refined zinc use rose 36 percent year-on-year to 932,100 tonnes in January 2010, International Lead & Zinc Institute figures show.

CBH in December rejected a 13.5 cents a share offer from Nyrstar and instead agreed to sell 50 per cent of the Rasp project to Toho, its largest shareholder with 24.1 per cent.

At present, Nyrstar buys all the lead mined by CBH, though the more-prized zinc ore is bought by Toho and refined in Japan.

Nyrstar owns 19.9 percent of Australia-listed Ironbark, which is developing a zinc mine in Greenland, and which analysts also said could be involved in the CBH offer.

Analysts added that Perilya, which mines zinc next door to the Rasp deposit, is also a potential suitor.

Perilya and CBH agreed to a friendly merger in March 2008 but mutually terminated the agreement four months later. CBH launched a takeover bid for Perilya about three months later but this was abandoned in January 2009.

Perilya earlier this year said it was holding $116.7 million in cash and ready to pursue growth opportunities.

The offers come as CBH reactivates equipment idled in 2008 when zinc prices crashed, that will allow it to more than double production to 59,000 tonnes of zinc metal and 30,000 tonnes of lead annually for the next seven years or so.

Prices of zinc, used as an anti-corrosive in steel are up 20 percent since early February to around $US2270 a tonne.

Nyrstar, the world's biggest zinc producer, aims to increase production of the metal over the next year from its own mines to about 30 per cent from 21 per cent.

Reuters