Latest news with #UK-incorporated
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CAML to acquire New World Resources for $118m
Central Asia Metals (CAML), a UK-incorporated base metals producer, has entered into a definitive scheme implementation deed with Australian miner New World Resources (NWR) to acquire the latter for approximately A$185m ($118.7m). The cash consideration of A$0.05 per share represents a significant premium, ranging from 78.6% to 150%, over various benchmarks including NWR's last closing price and volume-weighted average prices up to 20 May 2025. CAML will take full ownership of the Antler project, a high-grade copper deposit in Arizona, US, as part of the transaction. The project is expected to yield an average of around 30,000 tonnes per annum of payable copper equivalent throughout its 12-year operational life. NWR's most recent mineral resource estimate for the Antler project reported a total of 14.2 million tonnes with a copper equivalent grade of 3.8%. The transaction is contingent upon several conditions including regulatory approvals from the US and North Macedonia, an independent expert's endorsement and no material adverse changes to NWR's operations. Additionally, the scheme requires the approval of NWR shareholders and the Australian Court. CAML CEO Gavin Ferrar said: "The addition of this high-grade copper project in a tier-one jurisdiction will significantly strengthen our portfolio. We have been impressed by the strength of NWR's team and aim to work with them to integrate the Antler Project, complete the DFS [definitive feasibility study] and work towards a construction decision. 'In addition, the manageable capital expenditures of the Antler Project would provide us the opportunity to fund its development whilst ensuring we maintain a strong financial position." CAML plans to fund the acquisition through existing cash reserves and a new $120m (£89.45m) credit facility, with the transaction not subject to financing or due diligence conditions. The transaction is due to be implemented in September 2025, subject to the conditions of the scheme being satisfied or waived. NWR's Board has recommended the transaction, considering it the best outcome for shareholders compared with other proposals and the risks of independently developing the Antler copper project. The directors, holding approximately 2.56% of NWR shares, intend to vote in favour of the scheme, in line with the independent expert's ongoing approval. NWR managing director Nick Woolrych said: 'The Board decided to pursue this transaction despite receiving exceptionally strong interest from multiple Tier-1 project financiers and strategic partners, which reflects the quality of the Antler Copper Project and its inherent strategic value in the global copper landscape.' In February 2025, NWR received the US federal permit regarding the mine plan of operations application submitted for its Antler project. "CAML to acquire New World Resources for $118m" was originally created and published by Mining Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Mayor
17-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Pension fund managers need their wits about them if they head into private equity
Unlock the Editor's Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. I was programmed early in life to regard all gambling establishments as dens of wolves, which rather reduces my enjoyment of spending time in them. Nevertheless, one night, many decades ago, I found myself in a Stakis casino in Edinburgh — in those days, stockbrokers went where their clients wanted to go, especially after dinner. To make things more weird, my client, who ran a large life and pension fund, assured me he had a system which could beat the house at roulette. Even in my highly relaxed state, I then knew that things might well go from weird to bonkers. I was looking for a route out, so sat at a blackjack table. The croupier removed me for being too drunk after I tried to take the irrational step of splitting two tens into separate hands. It was an act of kindness from Stakis that I will not forget. I left my client to his probability defying quest. I've been thinking about that evening since hearing the government has forcefully persuaded pension funds to invest in private equity. Seventeen have signed what is called the Mansion House accord, promising to put at least 10 per cent of the defined contribution default funds into PE vehicles, half of them in the UK, investing £25bn. Various questions arise. First, why is this allocation only being made for default funds? Some might suggest that these funds are the ones where the beneficiaries have no say in how their money is invested. Presumably, if these investment companies thought that private equity was a great place to invest, they would have had this allocation anyway. So what has changed? If they are now raising their PE allocation, will they explain to the beneficiaries how this is in their interest, especially as fees on this allocation are likely to be a multiple of those on other investments, such as tracker funds and bonds? Read More Asking prices for UK homes suffer sharpest August drop since 2018 Second, why is only half of the PE allocated to the UK? And who will keep an eye on whether the UK allocation actually ends up invested in the UK? Say a fund buys units in a UK-based PE fund. That fund might invest outside the UK, or in UK-incorporated companies which then invest in their overseas plants, or UK companies which receive the extra funds and leave them in their bank account. 'Investing in the UK' is a good intention, but the practicalities are complex. The same issue might well arise trying to get Isa investors to 'invest in the UK'. That is clear comparing two large UK-listed stocks. Tesco is a company mainly operating in the UK but Rio, the mining company, does very little mining here. Both are 'British' companies. Would we want investment rules to differentiate between the two? Private equity funds not only have higher fees than many other funds but also generally do not allow investors to sell their holdings at short notice. When the investment sun is shining, this lack of liquidity can seem a minor issue, but when markets become volatile major issues can arise. Say you allocate 10 per cent to private equity, 20 per cent to bonds and 70 per cent to equities then a 2008-type market comes along and your equities halve. Your PE allocation has then risen to 15 per cent. Also, if there are any redemptions in the fund you can only sell the bonds and equities as the PE fund is closed, making this unbalancing worse. What's wrong with these funds investing more in listed UK equities? After all, there are many who think UK equities look modestly valued by international standards. When investing in listed shares, I believe that I am on a fairly level playing field against other potential shareholders. We have roughly the same information, but may analyse it differently, leading one to buy and another to sell. In my experience, investing in private equity is like entering that Edinburgh casino — it can feel like entering a wolf den. The bankers who ask you to fund the company have much more information that you, the investor, and the management team may have angles about which neither banker nor investor are aware. You meet intensively for a period to arrange the private finance of a business and then are joined at the hip, unable to sell for many years after. I'll stick with listed stocks myself. Lastly, the expression goes 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions'. Unfortunately, government actions often have unintended consequences. Announcing a compact which requires a large number of funds to buy into a limited PE market creates two unintended risks. The first is that anyone with any junk to sell will dress it up as a UK PE deal, expecting hungry buyers. The second is that existing PE investors will find this wave of cash drives down current investment returns, leading them to invest less in the UK. Any move to mandate funds to invest in the UK — the so-called Treasury backstop — is likely to scare off more funds than it is able to corral. Even suggesting such a mandate shows that important people lack understanding of how markets work. This is a classic example of how the unintended consequences of government actions often outweigh the action itself, whatever the 'good intentions'. Simon Edelsten is a fund manager at Goshawk Asset Management
Perth Now
01-05-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
Traditional owners blast Rio Tinto's record on reforms
Iron ore giant Rio Tinto says it is committed to remedying the past after it was criticised for failing to modernise an agreement with traditional owners. Rio Tinto pledged to reform its business practices after it blew up the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters in Western Australia in 2020 for an iron ore mine. The event sparked public outrage and led to a government inquiry and the exit of the company's chair and chief executive. At Rio Tinto's Perth annual general meeting on Thursday, Deanne McGowan of the Robe River Kuruma Aboriginal Corporation said the group had failed to update its agreement with traditional owners of the lands containing Mesa J mine, where it had mined for 30 years. "You have paid us for three years," Ms McGowan said, adding the mine had been excluded from an agreement 20 years before when Rio Tinto had told elders it planned to close it. "And here we're now ... 17 years of payments that Rio has cheated us at Mesa J." The lands belonging to the Robe River Kuruma group do not include Juukan Gorge but are in the same Pilbara region in Western Australia. "Our country is dying," Ms McGowan said. "Our culture and our heritage at Middle Robe lies in ruins." Ms McGowan criticised the seven gigalitres of water the miner took for its coastal operations each year. "Rio Tinto's past is our present and until you remedy your past, it stains our future together," said. Rio Tinto chair Dominic Barton said his company was committed to reaching a new agreement and resolve issues with the traditional owners. "We've had a number of conversations and we'll be having after this meeting as well, but there is a very, very strong commitment to work through these issues with you," Mr Barton said. "We acknowledge and recognise that this mining activity ... has been having a severe impact on water and we are very committed to trying to be able to help rectify and improve that." The company had invested $395 million in a desalination plant that would be operational in 2026, the chair said. Also at the meeting, shareholders rejected a review to consider unifying the company's dual listings on stock exchanges in London and Sydney. Hedge fund Palliser Capital had lobbied shareholders to keep only the group's spot on the ASX, claiming the dual listing had eroded $US50 billion ($A78 billion) in company value. "It is never easy for a small shareholder to take on the likes of a corporate giant like Rio Tinto," Palliser founder and chief investment officer James Smith said. "However, we simply could not accept Rio Tinto's anomalous and illogical findings that unification offers no advantages whatsoever, when almost every other DLC in the world has unlocked multiple significant benefits through a simplified structure." Rio Tinto PLC, the group's UK-incorporated entity, is also traded as an American depositary receipt (ADR) security on the New York Stock Exchange. - with Reuters
Gulf Business
05-03-2025
- Business
- Gulf Business
The Arab Energy Fund, Hartree Partners set up $120m climate tech investment platform
Image: Getty Images/ For illustrative purposes The Arab Energy Fund, formerly known as APICORP, has partnered with global energy and commodities firm Hartree Partners to establish TAEF Hartree Cleantech LP, a $120m limited partnership focused on decarbonisation technologies across the US and Europe. The UK-incorporated platform will invest in venture capital (VC) stage companies developing physical and digital decarbonisation technologies. The initiative aligns with The Arab Energy Fund's strategy to position itself as the leading impact investor in the energy sector, with a focus on energy security and sustainability. Strategic investment in cleantech Hartree Partners has been advancing cleantech investments since 2020 through its subsidiary, Vertree Partners, which specialises in carbon markets, industrial decarbonization solutions, and the energy transition value chain. Hartree's cleantech portfolio includes investments in 10 companies across industrial decarbonisation, emissions verification, geospatial data analytics, and climate change adaptation technologies. 'The partnership reflects our strategy to support the energy ecosystem with debt and equity solutions and advances our member countries' energy agenda by fostering local energy value chains in the MENA region and beyond,' said Khalid Ali Al-Ruwaigh, CEO of The Arab Energy Fund. New platform to build on Hartree's previous collabs The new platform builds on previous collaborations between Hartree and major investors such as BlackRock, Microsoft, and Union Square Ventures. Its existing portfolio includes 10 companies focused on accelerating decarbonisation solutions, reinforcing The Arab Energy Fund's position as a global leader in sustainable energy financing.
