Hello Claude,
I just talked to SUF. I'm trying to find the Implats NR, but for now, here is what I was told:
(keep in mind, I'm no analyst)
The project is large to SUF, but small to Impala. Apparently, Impala approached SUF after seeing the development of Klipspringer, and asked SUF to have a look, over 18 months ago. Due to changing laws regarding dormant mineral rights, Impala has a need to bring this to production. So they cut a nice deal for SUF, and in turn will do all the smelting and marketing. The total expenditures needed to bring this into production is around US$41 million, with financing having been offered by several sources in RSA conditional on bankable feasibility.
The NPV of the whole project is around $8.00 per SUF share. At the present 54% stake, thats about $4.00. SUF will eventually make an offer to minority interests, and will probably begin construction late this fall. Production is expected around 2001, with the details in the release. While mining will not be at the tremendous margins of M1, cash flow and earnings will be substantial for the long term.
Messina has no debt, some cash, and apparently, many minority shareholders welcome this deal.
The analysts should have much commentary over the next few days.
Regards,
Confluence
PS. It seems that one very irked shareholder is dumping onto the bids. What kind of seller would cascade the price lower? Especially after seeing yesterday's cross at the high end of the spread. |
