Australia’s Tietto Minerals gets $415 million buyout bid from Zhaojin Capital

Australian gold explorer Tietto Minerals Ltd on Monday said it received an off-market takeover offer from Zhaojin Capital to acquire all shares it does not already own in the company for A$655.4 million ($415 million).

Under the offer, Zhaojin Capital, a unit of the Tietto’s second largest shareholder Zhaojin Mining Industry Co Ltd, will acquire the shares in the company at A$0.58 per share.

Zhaojin Mining currently holds 7.02 per cent of the shares in the gold explorer.

There is no certainty that the proposal will result in a binding proposal, Tietto said, adding that it is willing to recommend the proposal to its shareholders.

The deal comes at a time of elevated merger and acquisition activity in Australia with Chile’s SQM buying the rest of Azure Minerals that it doesn’t already own for $900 million.

($1 = 1.5793 Australian dollars)