Oxiana Ltd. agreed to buy Zinifex Ltd. for A$6.2 billion ($5.8 billion) to form the third-largest mining company on the Australian Stock Exchange. ( Bloomberg )
Oxiana offered 3.1931 of its shares for each Zinifex share, the two companies said in a statement today to the Australian Stock Exchange. That's a 14 percent premium to Melbourne-based Zinifex's closing price on Feb. 29.
Under Managing Director Owen Hegarty, Oxiana has become the fastest-growing of Australia's 10-largest mining companies and buying Zinifex will triple its zinc output. He said last week he was always looking at ``mega-merger'' opportunities.
``The two companies have largely complementary asset portfolios and development pipelines,'' Zinifex Chief Executive Officer Andrew Michelmore said in the joint statement. ``The merged entity will be very well positioned to benefit from the strength of demand for commodities we see stretching out for many years.''