1% Wesizwe volatile on takeover talk
Reuters | Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:50[miningmx.com] -- SHARES in South Africa's Wesizwe Platinum rose 5% on Tuesday on talk that the company could be a takeover target of Impala Platinum (Implats), the world's No 2 producer of the metal. Wesizwe, a black-owned company, which has transformed itself last year into a platinum producer from an exploration player, said last week that it was reviewing options for strategic direction and funding giving rise to a takeover speculation. Neither Implats or Wesizwe, which is currently trading under a cautionary notice, could not confirm the market talk. Shares in Wesizwe rose 5%, then pared some of their gains to trade 1.58% higher at R1.93, against Implats' shares which fell 1.3% to R168.77. "I suppose these are the sort of situations that people like to trade around, and position themselves for any such move. It's a move that could be in the works noting the location of their assets," Paul Theron, a director at asset manager Vestact said. "I'd be a bit surprised because I don't know if Wesizwe's total resource is all that attractive, I would have though Impala would be looking for bigger assets such as Booysendal rather than intermediate assets." In January, Implats dropped a bid for Mvelaphanda Resources (Mvela) and Mvela's unit Northam Platinum, owing to the global economic slowdown. By ending its interest in the deal, Implats gave up the chance to own Booysendal, Mvela's prime platinum deposit, with a resource in excess of 100 million ounces of platinum. Analysts noted Wesizwe's platinum resources were much smaller than Booysendal's, but also said Implats may be looking for options to expand because its growth plans in Zimbabwe - where it is the leading investor in the country's mining sector - have been hit by an uncertain political future. South African media also said other options being considered by Wesizwe could be some kind of fund-raising scheme or a deal to bring in a new partner, either from China or Japan.
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