TYC - Tethyan Copper

I thought I would let people know about this stock. Crosby, a Hong Kong based co. has made a takeover offer for 64c. Current price is around 75c. The offer was due to expire on 15th Aug 05, but has been extended by 1 month.

Valuations of TYC have it around $4-5 and the takeover offer is widely considered opportunistic. Company announcements since the offer was made, have been excellent and their exploration in Pakistan has shown enormous copper reserves. Possibly the market is a little frightened of the idea of mining in Pakistan and perhaps that is the reason the share price is not higher. At least that is the only reason I can think of. But it's only a matter of time before more people see the value in this, in my opinion. Safe to say whatever happens from here, the reserves will definitely be a huge future supply of copper worldwide.

There is a 90% chance a more realistic second offer will be made before the 15th of Sept 05, the new expiry date.

If anyone has any thoughts on this takeover, I'd like to hear their views.

Re: TYC Takeover

Well, as it turns out, yesterday after the market closed there was an announcement regarding discussions with BHP. This might force Crosby to raise their bid.

It will interesting watching the s.p. in the morning.

Announcement:

Background
This announcement deals with confidential discussions regarding a possible transaction between
Tethyan Copper Company Limited and BHP Billiton. In the ordinary course of business, Tethyan would
not have been required by the ASX Listing Rules to make this disclosure.
Discussions with BHP Billiton
Since the announcement of the unsolicited Crosby Offer, Tethyan and its financial advisers have held
discussions with a number of parties who have expressed an interest in Tethyan and/or the
development of its assets.
Through this process the board of Tethyan has recognised that, while not critical to Tethyan,
consolidating ownership of the Tanjeel, Western Porphyries and H8 Complex projects has the potential
to create significant additional value for the Company and its shareholders. In addition to creating a
greater range of funding and development options, consolidating these interests would ensure that the
market focuses solely on the underlying value of Tethyan’s assets, without the prospect of BHP Billiton
exercising its clawback right sometime in the future.
In recent days therefore, Tethyan has been exploring with BHP Billiton options to acquire BHP Billiton’s
clawback rights. These discussions have focused on the possibility of BHP Billiton converting its
clawback right into a mix of equity in Tethyan and cash payments (possibly in the form of a deferred
consideration). Such an outcome would both consolidate Tethyan’s ownership of the underlying mineral
assets and maintain BHP Billiton’s exposure to those assets through a direct equity interest in Tethyan’s
shares.
Tethyan expects that BHP Billiton will give careful consideration to any proposal that Tethyan presents
and that, given the potential value of the assets in question, BHP Billiton will follow due process to
determine the fair value of the rights. This process may include the receipt of offers from third parties.
Commenting today, Tethyan’s Chairman David Humann said:
“We are excited by the possibility of reaching an agreement with BHP Billiton to consolidate ownership
of the Reko Diq assets. This is a tremendous opportunity for Tethyan if we can arrive at terms that we
believe will add value for our shareholders”.
Tethyan will make a further announcement in relation to these discussions if an agreement is reached
with BHP Billiton or the discussions are terminated. Due to the currency of the unsolicited Crosby Offer,
completion of any agreement reached with BHP Billiton during the term of the Offer is likely, at a
minimum, to be subject to the prior approval of Tethyan’s shareholders in general meeting.

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

Anyone following this stock?

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

I sort of am, waiting to see what happens with the offer

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

i have been a holder and traded tyc frequently,every trade so far sucessful,still holding some, believe with the stock trading higher than the offer and the support on any dip in price, i believe theres more to come.
porkpie324

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

Porkie, that sounds good. What technique do you use?

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

chief wigam,right now not much, in england at the mo,to rapt up with the cricket.
but i try to pick co's who do dig something out of the ground,ie mcr, oxr, igo,i started with a free ent. thru mcr then saw the massive reserves that tyc has with similar management so have been buying on any weakness and selling on any strength, and still hold some.hope this helps. porkpie

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

Porkie, The takeover offer has been extended again until 15th October. Looks like no-one is accepting the offer. Which is good news for holders, as there is bound to be some other offer turn up in the mean time or a deal with BHP is struck. Enjoy the cricket.

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

SP back down to 64c. The announcement indicated costs were going up. Big deal, Can't see why people would sell it down so much. Anyway I topped up. I think there are good days ahead with this take over, but I just don't know how long it will take to resolve.

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

Chief Wigam said:

SP back down to 64c. The announcement indicated costs were going up. Big deal, Can't see why people would sell it down so much. Anyway I topped up. I think there are good days ahead with this take over, but I just don't know how long it will take to resolve.

Click to expand...

Hi Wigam,

Actually costs are a big deal. Have the hedge funds been selling?If so good luck!

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

i dont think hedge funds are selling (in fact i dont know if they own any given the size of this company) because volume is still relatively low. 1 million shares per day for two days isnt much at all.

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

my point about costs were that anyone that knew anything about the mining industry would realise that costs have gone up - costs have been rising for nearly a year now, it came as no surprise to me. People are reacting as if this project is marginal and costs may impact final investment decision. This is simply not the case. The resource they have there would rank in the top 10 largest copper resources in the world, hardly a marginal project.

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

Wait for the bounce at 54cps imo.
Then we'll see it jump again.

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

looking at the closing quotes at friday's close 50 buyers at .64 with orders for over 400,000 shares,the average 50 day volume 246,000, topping up at the closing price makes sense to me.and as for costs increasing thats no suprise as mentioned buy other notices, could be a nice little trade this, my orders in.
porkpie

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

A weekly chart of TYC, recent uptrend to be tested? Ascending triangle or failure and more ranging to come? Prices still moving higher but watch that old big white candle (a big gap in the dailies, maybe filled but that's a long way down). Mod vol on fall so not good but could be worse. Note that prices have failed to close above 80c on several occasions on the weekly chart.

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

Any thoughts on the London exchange listing?

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

Something is going to be announced soon by the looks of the share price over the last week. Macquarie brokers are also calling it a buy.

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

It looks like Macquarie were right. They were predicting SP to reach $1 in the short term. And if you search the net you can find the following info. A simialr article was in the The Herald today. Excellent news for those that have been patient. Should see a huge jump in SP when trading resumes, to a more appropriate level.


ANTOFAGASTA PLC

For immediate release


Antofagasta plc to enter into a joint venture with Tethyan Copper Company Limited in relation to the Reko Diq copper-gold region in Pakistan

LONDON - 23 December 2005: Antofagasta plc (“Antofagasta”) is pleased to announce that it has signed a binding Heads of Agreement (“HoA”) with Tethyan Copper Company Limited (“Tethyan”), a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, involving the acquisition by Antofagasta of a 50% equity interest in Tethyan’s mineral interests in Pakistan and the concurrent subscription for a 19.95% shareholding in Tethyan. Antofagasta, together with Tethyan, have also entered into a deed of termination with BHP Billiton entities (“BHP Billiton”) whereby BHP Billiton’s rights to claw-back a material interest in certain of Tethyan’s mineral interests (“Claw-back Right”) will be extinguished (“BHP Billiton Termination Deed”).

Tethyan’s principal assets are a 75% interest in the exploration licence encompassing the highly prospective Chagai Hills region of North West Pakistan known as Reko Diq, which includes the Tanjeel Mineral Resource and the Western Porphyries, and a 100% interest in certain other licences in the region. This mining district hosts significant copper-gold porphyry deposits as part of an extended copper-gold belt. Tethyan has reported total indicated and inferred mineral resource estimates at these properties of 1,213 million tonnes with a copper grade of 0.58% and a gold grade of 0.28 grams per tonne. The resource estimates include probable reserves at the Tanjeel Mineral Resource of 128.8 million tonnes with a copper grade of 0.7%. Reserve and resource estimates have been reported by Tethyan to JORC standards.

Under the HoA, Antofagasta has agreed to:

· acquire a 50% equity interest in Tethyan’s mineral interests in Pakistan through the subscription for US$37.5 million of newly issued equity capital into a joint venture vehicle to be established;

· commit to funding further exploration and development expenditure and related joint venture costs of up to US$75 million. In the event that Antofagasta spends less than this amount, its 50% equity interest will be reduced on a pro-rata basis; and

· subscribe for 33 million new ordinary shares in Tethyan for a total subscription price of US$20.5 million, equating to 19.95% of Tethyan’s enlarged issued share capital (17.3% on a fully diluted basis).

Under the BHP Billiton Termination Deed, Tethyan have agreed to pay BHP Billiton a compensation amount of US$50M in consideration for terminating the Claw-Back Right and other rights under the Alliance Agreement between BHP Billiton and Tethyan, of which US$45M is payable at closing and US$5M is payable in four equal instalments over the four years following closing.

It is expected that Antofagasta’s total financial commitment under this transaction, including the exploration and development expenditure commitment under the HoA, will amount to US$133 million. Implementation of the proposed transactions under the HoA and the BHP Billiton Termination Deed are subject to certain conditions precedent including due diligence, Tethyan shareholder approval, necessary Pakistan and Balochistan authority approvals and receipt of all other necessary regulatory and third party approvals.

Tethyan is currently subject to an unsolicited takeover offer from Skafell Pty Ltd (“Skafell”), a subsidiary of Crosby Capital Partners Inc. and IB Daiwa Corporation. The Tethyan Board has unanimously recommended that its shareholders reject the Skafell takeover offer and approve the proposed transaction with Antofagasta, in the absence of a superior offer for Tethyan emerging. Tethyan has agreed to pay Antofagasta a break fee in certain circumstances, including where the Tethyan Board withdraws its recommendation for the proposed transaction with Antofagasta.

Marcelo Awad, CEO of Antofagasta Minerals S.A., stated, “Our agreement with Tethyan Copper Company provides Antofagasta with a window into a very prospective mining region and represents a strategic investment opportunity for us. A partnership with Tethyan will allow Antofagasta to apply its mining and development skills and its experience in large-scale projects, to evaluate the mineral resources at Reko Diq and ensure that they are developed to their full potential to the mutual benefit of the shareholders of both Antofagasta and Tethyan. Whilst Latin America, and Chile in particular, will continue to be Antofagasta’s primary region of focus, this investment is consistent with our long term growth strategy and subject to our rigorous investment and risk evaluation criteria. Antofagasta continues to look at opportunities globally to secure rights to world-class mining assets to enhance its overall growth profile.”



The agreements referred to above were signed after the last time at which an announcement of the transaction could have been made by Tethyan through the Australian Stock Exchange. A detailed announcement is expected to be made by Tethyan at the opening of trading on the Australian Stock Exchange on Wednesday 28 December 2005.

Antofagasta plc is a Chilean-based mining group listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE-100 index. Its principal mining assets include the Los Pelambres, El Tesoro and Michilla mines and the Esperanza copper project. In addition to copper mining, Antofagasta’s interests include rail and road transport operations and water distribution.



Rothschild is advising Antofagasta in relation to this transaction.

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

TYC has today announced it is listing on the London Stock Exchange.
Market seems to have responded positively.

Re: TYC Tethyan Copper- Takeover

Article in the financial review...

Put up or shut up, Tethyan tells Crosby

Author: Yvonne Ball
Date: 12/01/2006
The Financial Review
Section: Companies and Markets
Page: 13

Tethyan Copper managing director David Moore says Hong Kong merchant bank Crosby Capital Partners should raise its hostile takeover offer or go away after a doubling of the resource at its Reko Diq copper-gold project in Pakistan.

The upgrade comes almost three weeks after Tethyan joined forces with major South American copper producer Antofagasta to create a 50-50 joint venture to develop the $US1 billion ($1.3 billion) project and extinguish clawback rights held by BHP Billiton.

Crosby Capital Partners launched a surprise 64 ? a share takeover bid in May last year but has secured a mere 1.3 per cent stake in Tethyan.

However, it seems to have no intention of letting the bid lapse after last week extending its offer, for the sixth time, to February 20.

"Since they announced their offer way back in May last year, we have increased the [Reko Diq] resource fairly substantially . . . but their offer is still there, still the same price," Mr Moore said.

"I think it has actually stifled our share price. You have $US2 [a pound] copper. We've got this massive copper boom going on. If you look at Tethyan's share price, it has been linked to the bid price for the last seven months."

Tethyan's share price closed half a cent lower yesterday at 70c. Copper futures in New York are trading close to a record $US2.11 a pound.

The Perth-based company said it had doubled the mineral resource at Reko Diq to more than 2.4 billon tonnes of ore containing 27 billion pounds (12.4 million tonnes) of copper and 21 million ounces of gold. The resource is based on an average grade of 0.51 per cent copper and 0.27 grams per tonne of gold.

Mr Moore said it placed Reko Diq among the largest 25 copper deposits in the world based on deposits contained in the US Geological Survey.

"The offer, if it didn't reflect the value then, is very far short of reflecting the value now," he said. "They [Crosby] should either make a decent offer or go away."

Under Tethyan's heads of agreement with Antofagasta, the Chilean company will initially commit $US133 million for a 50 per cent stake in Tethyan's interests in Reko Diq and a 17.3 per cent stake in Tethyan.

Crosby, through its takeover vehicle, Skafell, has criticised the deal, saying Tethyan shareholders faced an immediate 20 per cent dilution in the company and a further 50 per cent dilution through the creation of the joint venture.