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US$625M DEAL
HudBay Minerals to buy Lundin Mining in friendly all stock transaction
Canadians HudBay Minerals and Lundin Mining have agreed to a friendly merger, creating the nation's No. 2 base metals miner.
Posted: Friday , 21 Nov 2008
TORONTO--REUTERS -
HudBay Minerals <HBM.TO> has agreed to buy fellow Canadian base metals miner Lundin Mining <LUN.TO> for around C$800 million ($625 million) in stock, the companies said on Friday.
HudBay, which like Lundin has been hit hard by tight credit markets and sliding commodity prices, will pay 0.3919 of a share for each Lundin common share. At C$2.08 a share, the offer is a steep premium on Lundin's price of C$1.12, before the stocks were halted on Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The deal will create Canada' No. 2 base metals miner by market capitalization, trailing only Teck Cominco <TCKb.TO>.
The companies' combined assets produced 187,115 tonnes of copper, 278,289 tonnes of zinc, 44,560 tonnes of lead, and 3,270 tonnes of nickel in 2007, they said.
Following the deal, HudBay's cash on hand will be about C$900 million, with total debt of about $240 million.
Lundin's board has approved the transaction, which includes a break fee of C$24.25 million.
($1=$1.28 Canadian) (Reporting by Cameron French; editing by Rob Wilson)
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