Salim Group Bids IDR 4.31 Trillion to Acquire Australia's Rex Minerals

Bisnis, JAKARTA — MACH Metals Australia, owned by MACH Australia Holdings which in turn is under the Salim Group, has made a bid of 393 million Australian dollars (AUD) bid  or equivalent to IDR 4.31 trillion to acquire Australian copper and gold mining company, Rex Minerals.
 On July 8, 2024, Rex announced that it had signed a scheme implementation deed (SID) with MACH, under which the latter acquires the remainder of Rex shares it does not already own for AUD 0.47 per share.
 MACH currently holds 121,525,069 Rex shares, which amounts to 15.8 percent stake. According to Rex's announcement on Tuesday (9/7), MACH's offering price implies a fully diluted equity value of AUD 393 million and represents a 79 percent premium to the 30-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP).
 The transaction is still awaiting approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) and Rex shareholders. Rex's shareholder meeting is planned to be held in October 2024.
 MACH's offer was received after Rex sought partners to develop the Hillside copper-gold project located on the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia, which requires a funding of AUD $854 million.
 "Subject to approvals, we look forward to working with Mach through to completion and watching them develop the Hillside Project, Australia’s largest fully permitted and shovel ready copper project," said Rex CEO and managing director Richard Laufmann.
 Meanwhile, MACH managing director Ferdian Purnamasidi also expressed his enthusiasm for the potential acquisition and future developments for the Hillside project.