After withdrawing a previous takeover offer, JSC
Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ) has made a new bid to acquire Australia-based uranium
miner Mantra Resources.
The Russian uranium interest, the fifth largest in the
world, has made a new offer that values the company at $1.03 billion, down from
$1.17 billion when it first agreed to buy the company Dec. 15. Last week, ARMZ
notified Mantra that the emergencies at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant,
and their potential effect on demand for uranium, represented a material
adverse event that allowed the company to back out of the previous deal.
The new offer announced Monday would pay a premium for
shares and offer a special dividend, the combined value of which represent a
32.7 percent premium over Mantra’s share price Friday.
The revised deal is not subject to any material adverse
change conditions, according to the release.
Mantra’s business focuses on developing uranium deposits at the
Mkuju River project in Tanzania. ARMZ is a wholly owned subsidiary of Russia’s
State Atomic Energy Corporation.