{"id":1166469,"date":"2020-02-19T05:53:34","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T11:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1014301"},"modified":"2020-02-19T05:53:34","modified_gmt":"2020-02-19T11:53:34","slug":"sirius-shareholder-odey-comes-down-on-anglos-mockery-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1166469","title":{"rendered":"Sirius shareholder Odey comes down on Anglo\u2019s \u201cmockery\u201d bid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>London-based hedge fund Odey Asset Management has launched an aggressive attack on Anglo American\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/anglo-american-goes-back-to-fertilizers-with-sirius-minerals-527million-buy\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">\u00a3405 million (about $524m) planned takeover<\/a> of Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX), saying it does not represent fair value for shareholders.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The fund, which has a 1.3% interest<br \/>\nin the struggling British junior, warned it would vote against any offer at the<br \/>\ncurrent level of 5.5p a share that is not designated \u201cfinal\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In an <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com\/rns\/4000D_1-2020-2-18.pdf\" >open letter<\/a> to the chief executives of Sirius and Anglo, Odey slammed the fertilizer company\u2019s board for accepting the bid, which it described as a \u201cmockery\u201d.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOdey believes Anglo American have<br \/>\nchosen not to declare their offer as \u2018final\u2019 because there is a risk of both<br \/>\nthe deal failing at its current level, and of an interloper at a later stage,\u201d<br \/>\nsaid the letter, signed by Odey\u2019s fund manager Henry Steel.&nbsp; <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Odey Asset Management will vote against any offer at the current level of 5.5p a share that is not designated \u201cfinal\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe lack of \u201cfinal\u201d offer, in<br \/>\nOdey\u2018s opinion, suggests that Anglo American would be willing to bid<br \/>\nsubstantially more for Sirius, with the investment case remaining highly<br \/>\nattractive for Anglo American, even at a materially higher bid level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The fund said it won\u2019t settle for anything less than at least 7p a share, a price which is likely to deliver good returns on Odey\u2019s investment.&nbsp;It noted that Sirius\u2019s most recent accounts in September show an equity value of \u00a3893.1 million, 120% above Anglo\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/anglo-american-goes-back-to-fertilizers-with-sirius-minerals-527million-buy\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">\u00a3405 million (about $526m)<\/a> bid.<\/p>\n<p>Sirius acknowledges that the current offer does not represent the value that its board and shareholders had previously hoped for. It warns, however, that if not approved the company would likely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/sirius-tells-investors-is-anglos-524m-takeover-bid-or-bust\/\">be placed<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/sirius-tells-investors-is-anglos-524m-takeover-bid-or-bust\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"  (opens in a new tab)\"> <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/sirius-tells-investors-is-anglos-524m-takeover-bid-or-bust\/\">into administration<\/a> or liquidation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The London-based junior, which is<br \/>\nmidway through&nbsp;building its Woodsmith fertilizer mine beneath the North<br \/>\nYork Moors national park, has seen its share price collapse in the last five<br \/>\nmonths. The mine developer&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/sirius-minerals-shares-crash-after-scrapping-500m-fundraising-plan\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">warned last September<\/a>&nbsp;that a multibillion<br \/>\ndollar&nbsp;funding for the next stage had fallen through, adding it only had<br \/>\nenough cash to last&nbsp;another six months.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The company has already raised \u00a3920<br \/>\nmillion ($1.2bn) to develop Woodsmith and received the backing of thousands of<br \/>\nlocal retail investors, but needs a further $3.8bn to turn it into the world\u2019s<br \/>\nbiggest producer of polyhalite, a multi-nutrient fertilizer.<\/p>\n<p>As a last resource, Sirius launched<br \/>\nin November a rescue plan involving the participation of a potential strategic<br \/>\ninvestor and a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/sirius-minerals-unveils-rescue-plan-for-uks-biggest-fertilizer-mine\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">revised two-stage development plan<\/a>&nbsp;for the mine, poised<br \/>\nto be one of the world\u2019s largest in terms of the amount of<br \/>\nresources&nbsp;extracted.<\/p>\n<p>The move by Odey comes as<br \/>\nshareholders prepare to vote on the deal on March 3. Investors with shares<br \/>\nrepresenting 75% of the company need to vote in favour for it to go ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Sirius Minerals said on Wednesday<br \/>\nits board was unanimous in recommending shareholders vote for Anglo&#8217;s bid.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>At the peak,&nbsp;around 85,000 individual<br \/>\nprivate investors had shares in the Yorkshire mine developer, and most of them<br \/>\nwere believed to be either first time or fairly inexperienced investors.<\/p>\n<p>If the deal goes ahead, if could<br \/>\nsave more than 1,000 jobs in one of England\u2019s most underprivileged areas, which<br \/>\ngoes hand in hand with Prime Minister Boris Johnson\u2019s pledge to revive poorer<br \/>\nregions of the UK.<\/p>\n<p>Woodsmith is set to generate an<br \/>\ninitial 10 million tonnes per year of polyhalite, which contains four of the<br \/>\nsix key elements needed for plant growth (potassium, sulphur, magnesium and<br \/>\ncalcium).<\/p>\n<p>The ore will be extracted through two<br \/>\n1.5km-shafts and transported to Teesside on the world\u2019s longest underground<br \/>\nconveyor belt, via a 37km-underground tunnel. It will then be granulated at a<br \/>\nmaterials handling facility, with the majority being exported to overseas<br \/>\nmarkets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hedge fund said it would vote against Anglo&#8217;s offer as it doesn&#8217;t represent fair value.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[369,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166469"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1166469"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1166544,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166469\/revisions\/1166544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1166469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1166469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1166469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}