AIM-listed mining investor International Mining & Infrastructure Corporation (IMIC) has confirmed an initial offer for much larger AIM peer Afferrro Mining.
In fact IMIC has made three possible offers for the dual Toronto- and London-listed iron ore developer, involving different mixes of cash and shares.
The three potential options include an offer of 80p per share in cash plus a convertible loan note of 20p that makes a total of 100p for each Afferro share; or 50p plus a 70p convertible loan for a total of 120p; or an offer entirely in IMIC shares that is equivalent to a valuation of 140p.
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IMIC, which already owns 5.0% of Cameroon-focused Afferro, said it needs to raise sufficient funding in order to complete the purchaser of.
Afferro Chief Executive Officer Luis da Silva said the offer was an endorsement of the strong progress that Afferro has made.
"We are encouraged to see continued strong industry interest in Afferro and will continue to investigate options as they are presented with shareholders' interests always at the centre of everything we do."
IMIC, which is chaired by serial AIM entrepreneur Haresh Kanabar, has told Afferro that it intends to provide written conformation that the minimum $100m cash is available to execute its proposal within 15 business days at the latest and that it plans to raise further cash in the future to enable further development of Afferro's four main projects.
Da Silva added: "The update on the IMIC discussions is a development that should be viewed positively especially in respect of the Chinese consortium that IMIC has assembled to address the iron ore infrastructure requirements of the Nkout project. We look forward to further information in the near term so that any eventual process may be further clarified."
"The board of directors does not believe that an informed decision can be taken by the company until such time as a more formal offer and satisfactory confirmation from IMIC's financial advisers, is received."
As such, Afferro advisesshareholders that no action should be taken at present and the company looks forward to further updating the market within 15 business days."
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