Hindalco to accept Metal X's offer for sale of Australian arm

Aluminium maker Hindalco today said it will accept the Australian miner Metal X's improved takeover offer for its subsidiary Aditya Birla Minerals Ltd.

In a regulatory filing, Hindalco said Metal X, a listed company in Australia, has made an announcement regarding its "intention to improve its ongoing takeover offer for acquiring shares of ABML under the relevant laws of Australia".

Metal X has offered 1 fully paid ordinary share in Metals X Ltd for 4.5 ABML shares and AUD (Australian dollar) 0.08 in cash for every ABML share held, the filing added.

The above offer is conditional upon Hindalco's acceptance and confirmation that it has obtained the requisite approval of Reserve Bank of India in this regard.

"Further, the company (ABML) has informed that Hindalco has communicated to ABML its intention to accept the aforesaid offer subject to receiving the approval of the RBI and no bona fide superior proposal being announced by a third party within 5 business days of Metals X announcing its intention to make the aforesaid Offer," Hindalco said in the filing.

Meanwhile, Metal X in a statement said it had written to Aditya Birla and had sought to commence merger discussions in May 2015, but has been unable to initiate any engagement it.

Metals X CEO and Managing Director Peter Cook said: "Aditya Birla is an underperforming company and its shareholders have seen substantial loss of wealth over the last few years."

Nifty mine is an underperforming asset and continues to be a challenging operation, which with appropriate stewardship is capable of being a good mine, he added.

"However, Metals X believes its underground mining experience, technical capability, financial capacity and experience in operating Western Australian mines make Metals X almost uniquely placed to take on the Nifty challenge," Cook said.

Currently, Metals X operates three key divisions -- gold, tin and nickel as well as other exploration activities. It aims to expand its operating and commodity diversification strategy by adding copper as a new operating division.