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Gold/Mining/Energy : Canmine resources -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Marshhawk who wrote (2759)	5/1/2001 5:58:27 PM
From: Marshhawk	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2769

WRAP: Anaconda In War Of Words As Anglo Seeks Support By Andrew Trounson Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES PERTH (Dow Jones)--Anaconda Nickel Ltd.'s (A.ANL) embattled chief executive Andrew Forrest Tuesday said boardroom agitator Anglo American PLC (AAUK) has been involved in questionable behavior ahead of a controversial shareholder meeting late this month. But South African-based Anglo defended the quizzing of some small shareholders ahead of the May 31 vote as standard industry practice. The war of words comes as the two sides prepare for the meeting at which Anglo will propose a shakeup of the Australian laterite nickel miner's board and management, including the removal of Forrest. Anglo's push follows what it says is Anaconda's poor financial and operating performance, while Forrest claims it is just part of a plan by Anglo to take control of Anaconda on the cheap. At Tuesday's A$1.62 closing price, Anaconda has a market capitalization of A$601 million, but the stock has traded as high as A$4 in the last 12 months. At the center of the dispute are delays to the build up of full production at Anaconda's main asset, the 60%-owned Murrin Murrin nickel mine in the state of Western Australia. Ahead of the meeting, Anglo has hired research companies to organize small meetings of shareholders to survey their attitudes, offering shareholders A$50 to attend. "Our objective in this is to try and hear what people are saying, to try and understand what they know about the issue so that we can communicate effectively with them," Anglo's head of investor relations Anne Dunn told reporters. But according to Anaconda's Forrest some shareholders are complaining that the researchers don't reveal they are working for Anglo until the conclusion of the meetings. "The number of complaints from shareholders to Anaconda about this, what we consider duplicitous behavior coming through from Anglo, has only really started to become very noisy over the last several days," Forrest told reporters Anglo On Roadshow To Garner Support In one instance Forrest said researchers telephoned his stepmother as a shareholder to persuade her to attend a meeting, only to hang up when she revealed who she was and pressed them on who they were working for. Forrest said he wasn't planning to take up the issue with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, but a spokeswoman for the corporate regulator told Dow Jones the ASIC is keeping a "watching brief" on the issue. Forrest believes the meetings are part of a campaign aimed at raising shareholder support for Anglo's proposals. "I think they are doing everything they possibly can to get to the hearts and minds of small investors when in fact they are turning them off without being honest in the first place," Forrest said. Anglo controls 25.4% of Anaconda and, according to Forrest, is likely to have the support of Swiss-based Glencore International AG (Z.GNC) with it 22.7% holding. That would give Anglo 48.1% support, putting it on the threshold of winning the majority it needs. "I believe Anglo has some confidence that Glencore will (vote their way) otherwise they wouldn't have taken this action," Forrest said. Glencore is Anaconda's joint venture partner at Murrin Murrin with a 40% stake. Anaconda recently canceled a deal which saw Glencore marketing all of the project's output. Anglo's Dunn denied that the South African company is angling to take control of Anaconda. "We aren't trying to takeover this company on the cheap," she said. "We aren't intending to increase our shareholding beyond the 25.4% as part of these proposals (and) we aren't intending to take control of the board," she said. Dunn and Anglo's chief financial officer of the base metals division, Mike Gordon, are in Australia this week on a roadshow to garner support for Anglo's proposals among analysts, brokers and institutional shareholders. They will also be meeting with government politicians including an advisor to Treasurer Peter Costello. Foreign companies will likely be taking extra special care to keep politicians on side in the wake of Costello's decision last week to block on national interest grounds Royal Dutch/Shell Group's (RD) A$10 billion takeover bid for Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (A.WPL). The roadshow will be in Melbourne on Wednesday before traveling to Sydney on Thursday and Canberra on Friday. The following week Anglo will head to Europe and Canada to make presentations to Glencore and fellow Anaconda shareholders Sherritt International Corp. (T.S) with 10% and billionaire trader Marc Rich with 4% held through Marc Rich Finance. In January, Marc Rich was pardoned by outgoing U.S. President Bill Clinton for an 1983 indictment in New York on racketeering, tax-evasion and wire fraud charges.