British and Australian-run Regent Pacific has received Australian Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval for its bid for Australian iron ore development company BC Iron Limited.
According to a statement by BC Iron, Regent Pacific has advised the company that on January 25 it received notice from the FIRB that it had no objections to the proposed transaction.
The offer, for the 81 percent of BC Iron that Regent does not already own, values the Perth-based miner at AU$3.30 (US$3.27) per share or AU$345 (US$342) million in total.
BC Iron's directors have announced that they will back the offer, in the absence of a superior deal.
Consolidated Minerals seems in favor of the offer
Ukrainian billionaire Gennadiy Bogolyubov's Consolidated Minerals owns a 21.1 percent stake in BC Iron. Consolidated is perceived as backing the offer, as its CEO Glenn Baldwin, also a member of the BC Iron board, voted in favor of the takeover, press reports have said.
To make the acquisition, Regent has lined up a US$155 million ($154 million) debt facility with Standard Chartered, its adviser on the acquisition.
The Nullagine iron ore joint venture project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia is equally owned by BC Iron Limited and Australian miner Fortescue Metals Group (Fortescue), and recently started production.