Xstrata, the Swiss-based mining group, was on Tuesday night preparing an unsolicited takeover bid for Lonmin, a FTSE 100-listed platinum producer, in a deal likely to be worth about $9bn. Xstrata, which has grown through acquisition over the past five years, has been looking at Lonmin for some time, and appears to be taking the recent fall in the platinum group’s shares as a chance to make a move. Senior Lonmin executives were told on Tuesday of Xstrata’s surprise move. Xstrata had decided to put an offer directly to shareholders, and on Tuesday was sounding out investors. One market insider said any offer would be “in the high £20s”. Lonmin shares closed Tuesday at £23.19.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 5:40 and is filed under Capital markets, M&A. Tagged with Lonmin, xstrata. Edit this entry.