Lonmin shareholders vote for £226m sale to Sibanye-Stillwater
Shareholders in Lonmin today passed a lower bid from Sibanye-Stillwater which will create the world’s second-largest producer of platinum.
Investors owning nearly 99 per cent of the stock in Lonmin voted for the £226m deal, which was £60m lower than the original proposal.
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The all-share deal gives Lonmin shareholders a 10.9 per cent stake in the new Sibanye group.
The vote came after investors in Sibanye this morning approved the deal with more than 99 per cent of shares voting in favour.
The votes are the second and third hurdles that the deal has crossed this month, after a judge earlier found against Lonmin’s bigger union.
The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union had appealed a decision by the Competition Tribunal in South Africa to allow the deal to go ahead.
The union said it was trying to save jobs at the struggling miner, which has been cutting thousands of staff to slash costs.
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The struggles at Lonmin helped push down the price in new shares that Sibanye would have to pay. The initial deal, announced in December 2017, was at around £285m in shares.
Shares in Lonmin were up 9.6 per cent to 64.8p, while Sibanye rose 9.7 per cent in Johannesburg.