Central Asia Metals to buy Lynx Resources for $402.5m, including Macedonia lead zinc mine Sasa

Aim-listed base metals miner Central Asia Metals will buy Bermuda-based Lynx Resources for $402.5-million.

Lynx, which is owned by Bermuda-based fund Orion Co-Investments III and Swiss private equity firm Fusion Capital, owns the SASA zinc/lead mine in Macedonia.

The mine produced 22 515 t of zinc in concentrate and 28 995 t of lead in concentrate from 783 000 t of ore in 2016.

The acquisition, which will be funded from a mix of debt and cash, is expected to be both earnings- and cash-flow-per-share-accretive in the first full year.

“We believe this transaction is an exceptional opportunity for Central Asia to acquire a high-quality asset that complements our existing business,” chairperson Nick Clarke said in a statement.

He added that the combination of Central Asia and Lynx will create a diversified, base metals producer with low-cost, long-life operations that are expected to generate positive cash flows throughout the commodity cycle.

In terms of funding, $120-million of debt has been sourced from Traxys at a rate of 4.75% plus London Interbank Offered Rate over a five-year term, while a further $67-million of existing Lynx debt has been rolled over with five years remaining.

The equity portion of the consideration includes a private placing that was launched on Friday to raise $153.5-million.

The placing is fully underwritten and the proceeds will represent 39.6% of the company’s current market capitalisation based on the closing share price on September 1, when shares were suspended.

A further $50-million will be raised by issuing shares in Central Asia to Orion through an equity subscription.

The company increased its copper production by 2% year-on-year to 7 027 t and its sales by 8% year-on-year to 6 870 t for the six months ended June 30.

Revenue increased to $38.6-million from $30.9-million the year before, delivering a 36% rise in pretax profit to $20.4-million.

Central Asia has maintained its production guidance for the full year at between 13 000 t and 14 000 t of copper.

Source: miningweekly