Northam Platinum withdraws offer to acquire Royal Bafokeng
Northam Platinum has withdrawn its offer to acquire Royal Bafokeng Platinum, citing the currently low prices of platinum group metals (PGM), saying they had reached levels that constitute a “material adverse change”.
The decision effectively ends a year-long takeover battle with larger rival, Impala Platinum.
“Northam Holdings hereby notifies RBPlat shareholders that the offer is terminated with immediate effect,” RBPlat said.
While Northam initially trumped Impala’s first offer to acquire RBPlat, it ultimately said that it was prevented from continuing its bid due to the low prices of PGMs, including platinum, rhodium and palladium.
Impala has built its holdings in RBPlat to 40.71% during the takeover battle, with Northam holding 34.52%. Although it has not specified whether it intends to maintain its stake or sell to Impala, Northam CEO Paul Dunne had earlier suggested that the two firms could jointly run the acquisition.
Northam’s departure paves the way for Impala, the world’s second-largest producer of PGMs, to strengthen its foothold on an acquisition of promising high-grade assets. The basket price of PGMs had declined to below R33,000 ($1,830.91) per ounce for 10 consecutive trading days, while the rhodium closing price remained under $9,000 per ounce for a 12-day period, Northam said.