RTGAM
Vancouver - Lundin Mining Corp. shares lost one-fifth of their value on Thursday after the copper-focused miner said it failed to find an acceptable offer to sell all or parts of the company.
While the Toronto-based company said all of the proposals it received were too low for its assets, including its coveted stake in a massive copper mine in Africa, it's still open to higher bids.
"If someone calls me up and gives a good price, we'll talk," Lundin chairman Lukas Lundin told investors on a conference call Thursday. "We are transaction oriented people ... If it creates shareholder value, we are open."
Meantime, Mr. Lundin said the company's plan is to "knuckle down and build a company."
Lundin announced late Wednesday that, after receiving proposals from several potential suitors for a range of combinations, none adequately valued the company or its assets, which include a 24-per-cent interest in the Tenke Fungurume copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo and mines in Portugal, Sweden, Spain and Ireland that produce copper, zinc, lead and nickel.
Company executives would not comment on who the potential bidders were, or the value of their offers. Sources have told The Globe and Mail that some of the world's largest mining companies had a look at Lundin and its properties. Chinese mining firm Jinchuan Group Ltd. as well as sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp. (CIC) were among the suitors eyeing a possible acquisition of the Canadian miner.
The rejection of potential bids comes at a time when prices for commodities the company produces are trading near record highs, but have cooled off slightly in recent weeks on concerns about slowing demand in China, the world's largest consumer of metals such as copper. Surging metal prices since the 2008 global economic meltdown have sparked a flurry of takeover bids over the past several months, including a string of potential deals involving Lundin.
Lundin said it has no plans to revisit a merger proposed at the start of this year with Toronto-based Inmet Mining Corp. That deal fell apart after a hostile bid for Lundin came from Equinox Minerals Ltd. in late February, and on concerns around Inmet's flagship project in Panama.
Equinox dropped its Lundin bid last month after agreeing to a friendly $7.3-billion takeover by Barrick Gold Corp. Barrick's offer for Toronto-based Equinox topped a hostile bid for Equiniox from China's Minmetals Resources Ltd.
The company also said its chief executive office Phil Wright will step down at the end of June 30.
Paul Conibear, Lundin's head of corporate development, will take over as interim CEO until a permanent replacement is recruited.
Mr. Conibear said Lundin will now focus on growing as a standalone company.
"This is not a garage sale. We are not breaking up the company in little bits and pieces," Mr. Conibear told investors Thursday.
