Overview:
- Australian based producer Iluka Resources has announced the £215 million acquisition of mining company Sierra Rutile.
- Sierra Rutile is listed on the AIM stock exchange in London, is incorporated on the British Virgin Islands and operates on the mineral sands of Sierra Leone.
- Owned by Swiss based Pala Investments, Iluka Resources is a global player in the mineral sands industry and announced the acquisition in line with the global commodities cycle.
- The company offered shareholders 36p per Sierra Rutile share.
- Pursuant to BVI law the acquisition needed the approval of a majority of Sierra Rutile's shareholders.
- The acquisition eventually closed after "an eleventh hour disagreement surrounding tailings dams was resolved", in December 2016, following doubts it would be completed.
- Complications arose when Iluka notified Sierra Rutile in late November that "it was not satisfied with certain geotechnical risks forming part of the latter’s operations in Sierra Leone".
John Crabb - Journalist
Additional reporting: Myles McCormick, Industrial Minerals