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Central Asia Metals PLC on Monday entered a revised takeover agreement with New World Resources Ltd, which scrapped a placing proposal and replaced it with a loan offer. Central Asia Metals, or CAM, is a London-based mining firm focused on Kazakhstan and Macedonia. On Thursday, CAM offered to pay A$0.062 per share for New World, valuing the ASX-listed mining company at A$230 million. This was the third time in less than a week that CAM has raised its offer price. The increase was to match the price paid as CAM acquired more shares in New World on Thursday via off-market trades. Back in June, CAM and New World adopted a transaction structure in which CAM will make an off-market takeover in parallel with the acquisition scheme. However on Monday, CAM noted it had terminated a proposed A$10 million conditional equity placement. Instead, it has offered to loan New World $6.5 million as part of the takeover deal. This comes after rival suitor Kinterra Capital, a Canadian private equity firm, unsuccessfully tried to prevent CAM from buying more shares in New World. In a filing submitted to the Australian Takeovers Panel on Wednesday, Kinterra accused CAM of insider trading and market manipulation. As of Monday, CAM holds 12.1% of New World shares. CAM and Kinterra’s offers are equal in price, but CAM claimed an advantage over its rival by asserting that its offer would provide New World with ‘funding certainty’. It is about 24% higher than the initial offer CAM made back in May, when it proposed to buy New World Resources for A$0.050 per share, around A$88.8 million in total. New World’s board recommends the scheme to shareholders, and it has given consent for an early dispatch of a bidder’s statement. The offer is expected to be open for acceptances from New World shareholders by mid-July. CAM shares traded down 1.2% at 161.88 pence on Monday morning in London, for a market capitalisation of £295.6 million. New World shares closed flat at A$0.064 on Monday in Sydney for an A$243.9 million market cap. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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