ArcelorMittal, the largest producer of steel, raised its cash offer for Baffinland Iron Mines Corp to C$1.25 (US$1.23) a share and said the target company’s board supports the increased price.
The offer for all of Baffinland’s shares and all of its 2007 warrants would make the deal worth more than C$492 million, Daniella Dimitrov, Baffinland vice chairman, wrote in an e-mail. The bid has been extended until 11:59pm Toronto time on Dec. 29 and represents a 14 percent premium on the original bid, Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal said in a statement on Saturday. Warrant holders will get C$0.10 per warrant, Baffinland said.
The minimum acceptance condition for the purchase has been lowered to 50 percent plus one common share, Arcelor said. About 25 percent of Baffinland’s stock has been tendered.
ArcelorMittal aims to boost self-sufficiency in raw materials as prices for iron ore and coking coal surge on demand from China. The company said in September it planned to spend US$4 billion to increase iron-ore production to 100 million tonnes a year by 2015, from 60 million.
On Thursday, Nunavut Iron Ore Acquisition Inc raised its offer to C$1.35 a share for 50.1 percent of Toronto-based Baffinland, compared with ArcelorMittal’s Nov. 8 price of C$1.10 a share for the whole company. Toronto-based Nunavut previously made an offer of C$0.80.
“We believe our offer is clearly superior to Nunavut Iron’s partial and incomplete offer because it does not expose the remaining shareholders with financing risk for the project and potential dilution to their investment,” Peter Kukielski, Arcelor’s head of mining said in the statement.
Baffinland’s Mary River project contains reserves of 365 million tonnes of iron ore, ArcelorMittal said in a statement last month. Prices for iron ore, a key steelmaking ingredient, almost doubled in the April quarter and gained more than 20 percent in the June-to-September period.
Baffinland rose C$0.04, or 3.1 percent, to C$1.32 in Toronto Stock Exchange trading on Friday. The shares have more than doubled this year.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS