WSA - Western Areas

[rederob]

Western Areas Limited (ASX: WSA) – Request for voluntary suspension

Western Areas Limited (Company) refers to its request dated 5 April 2022 for a trading halt in its ordinary shares.
On 5 April 2022, ASX implemented a trading halt which will end at the commencement of trading on Thursday, 7
April 2022.
Pursuant to ASX Listing Rule 17.2, Western Areas Limited (Company) requests that its ordinary shares be
suspended from quotation from the expiry of the current trading halt.
For the purposes of ASX Listing Rule 17.2, the Company provides the following information:
(a) Purpose for the suspension
The suspension is requested pending an announcement by the Company providing an update as to the
status of the proposed acquisition by IGO Limited (IGO) of all of the fully paid ordinary shares in the Company
by way of a scheme of arrangement under Part 5.1 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) for a cash amount of
$3.36 cash per Western Areas share (Scheme). Importantly, the suspension period will facilitate the
Company and IGO being able to complete the iterative consultation process regarding the Scheme, which
consultation process is required under the Scheme Implementation Deed (SID) between the Company, IGO
and IGO Nickel Holdings Pty Ltd (IGO Nickel).
In accordance with ASX Listing Rules Guidance Note 16: Trading Halts and Voluntary Suspensions, the
suspension is necessary to manage the Company's continuous disclosure obligations under ASX Listing
Rules 3.1-3.1B during the consultation process and is appropriate given the Company anticipates that it may
not be able to make an announcement to satisfy its continuous disclosure obligations until the conclusion of
the consultation process required under the SID. See below under the heading "Further information" for
additional details relating to the consultation process.
(b) Duration of the suspension
The Company requests that the suspension remain in place until the earlier of the Company releasing an
announcement in relation to the Scheme and commencement of trading on Wednesday, 13 April 2022.
(c) No reason
The Company is not aware of any reason the suspension should not be granted

DYOR

i hold WSA

You missed the important part, "d":

(d) Further information ​

As disclosed by IGO to ASX on 5 April 2022, the Company has received a draft Independent Expert's Report from its appointed Independent Expert, KPMG Financial Advisory Services (Australia) Pty Ltd (Independent Expert or KPMG). The Company confirms that the draft Independent Expert's Report from KPMG contains a draft opinion that the proposed Scheme is not fair and not reasonable and therefore is not in the best interest of Western Areas shareholders. Having regard to the opinion of the Independent Expert and the requirements of the SID, the Western Areas Board has determined to withdraw its recommendation that Western Areas shareholders (other than Excluded Shareholders) vote in favour of the Scheme.​

​

What we should learn is what the new valuation per share is calculated at by the Independent Expert. Clearly it's a lot more than the bid. Nevertheless, I hope IGO does not make a further offer and WSA lets market forces prevail With nickel sticking nicely above $30k for most of the past month I cannot see less than $5/share being fair (given that PAN - which WSA has a 20% stake in) has risen about 50% since IGO made the WSA offer.

 

[divs4ever]

oh , joy oh joy i am only down 25% down on PAN and down 36% on WSA

while i am up 330% on MCR

there is a BIG difference between the nickel miners

 

[rederob]

A bone was thrown and landed here:

I read a report over the weekend valuing WSA in the mid $4 range, from a long term perspective.
I am pretty disgusted by the WSA board not letting market forces take WSA to where investors see its value lying, rather than being dictated to on what they think is "fair and reasonable".

 

[rederob]

I sent this off to WSA a while ago:

I am writing to advise my disgust with Western Areas' Board and their continuing cosying up to IGO at the expense of shareholders.​

​

I will be lobbying other interested shareholders to join me in a class action against Western Areas and its incompetence in agreeing to a takeover when real industry experts - unlike KPMG - presently value the company considerably more than $4/share. It is well established that the nickel market has major supply problems, and these are not likely to improve as the incrementally increasing demand from the battery EV sector in particular has at least another decade to run.​

​

The weight of evidence against KPMG's present opinion is exceptionally strong and should not be difficult to prove, especially seeing they badly botched their first effort. Additionally, while it was apparent that the market never thought IGO's initial offer was fair, and they themselves said they would not change it, they in fact have. The course of events has an element of "opportunism" running through.​

​

A competent Board would not have been so eager to rush into another offer price with IGO and, instead, let WSA's shares trade for several months so that the market itself could guide a more fair and reasonable valuation.​

​

Individual and long term shareholders are constantly disappointed when they see Directors always proposing their fees are increased or that other bonus arrangements are approved despite poor share price performance. In this case it appears we are being sold down the toilet when, instead, a market directed outcome would put an end to share price uncertainty and negate the need for me to take further action.​

​

If you are of the same view, I welcome a message from you but won't be seeking anything more at this stage. I will be spending some time looking for cases where shareholders have taken similar actions to see what traction is available.

 

[rederob]

Let's see what the Independent Expert says this time:

Hmmm, we are being sold another crock!

 

[System]

On June 21st, 2022, Western Areas Limited (WSA) was removed from the ASX's Official List in accordance with Listing Rule 17.11, following implementation of the scheme of arrangement between WSA and its shareholders in connection with the acquisition of all the issued capital in WSA by IGO Nickel Holdings Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of IGO Limited).
.

 

[The Triangle]

Let's see what the Independent Expert says this time:
View attachment 141008
Hmmm, we are being sold another crock!

You were sold a crock. But the crock wasn't the takeover it was the feasibility. Probably should put this in the IGO thread, but I always liked complaining about WSA.

IGO have forecast about $800 million for a mine which Western Areas said would cost $300 million in pre-production capex. I don't care what anyone says - Covid and Inflation didn't cause that level of blowout. You can see that WSA had pretty well already spent $300m by the time they were taken over and this mine is still not anywhere near commercial production from reading through the IGO reports.

Ya'll wonder why WSA was all too happy to sell out?

Contrast this with the DFS numbers below: