The £37 million takeover of Chromex Mining (LON:CHX) by Synergy Africa has been declared wholly unconditional.
Synergy Africa is jointly owned by Finnish mid-tier natural resources firm Ruukki (LON:RKKI) and private investment company Kermas.
As at lunchtime yesterday, Synergy Africa had received acceptances from shareholders representing 91.69 percent of the issued share capital and also had acceptances representing 95.93 percent of the company’s share warrants.
As previously flagged, now that the offer has been declared unconditional in all respects and the acceptance level is over 90 percent, Synergy Africa has requested Chromex to seek cancellation of its shares from AIM.
Cancellation is expected to take effect on January 11 at the earliest.
Synergy Africa was bidding 36.5p per share and 16.5p for each warrant. The offer was at an 83 percent premium to the price on July 14, when the approach was first made.
The bid was recommended by Chromex at the end of September, at which point a total of 51.7 percent of Chromex investors had agreed to back the takeover offer.
Chromex has developed into a cash generative chrome producer in southern Africa with assets that now require further investment and returns on this investment will take several years.
“In addition to the large premium to Chromex's recent share price, the offer removes the uncertainties inherent in any further investment by Chromex shareholders, who will be achieving a significant and certain return on their investment immediately," chief executive Russell Lamming said in September.
Chromex Mining is a rare animal on AIM - a pure chrome play in South Africa’s Bushveld.
The country accounts for 40 per cent of world production of chromite, the only ore from which chromium is extracted commercially, and it hosts around 70 per cent of the current chromite resource base.
Demand for chrome, for which there is as yet no commercially viable substitute, is largely driven by producers of ferrochrome for stainless steel production worldwide, who consume some 90 per cent of mine output.
Other industrial uses include superalloys, leather tanning, castings and metal finishing.