Northam Platinum of South Africa has ended its year-long rivalry with Impala Platinum. The rivalry was over the acquisition of Royal Bafokeng Platinum by dropping its bid. Low pricing of platinum group metals was stated as the cause for the withdrawal.
Northam claimed that the fall in PGM pricing constituted a “material adverse development” that rendered Northam’s offer null and void.
It added that with “immediate effect” Northam Holdings informed RBPlat shareholders that the offer is canceled.
The miner claimed that the basket price of four PGMs has been below 33,000 rands ($1,830.91) per ounce. They continued that it has been like that for the past ten trading days, while the rhodium closing price has been below $9,000 per ounce.
Northam’s withdrawal from its pursuit of RBPlat enables Impala, the second-largest PGM producer in the world, to increase its influence over a miner with high-quality assets.
Impala and Northam have 40.71% and 34.52% shares in RBPlat, respectively, in the takeover battle.
Paul Dunne, the chief executive officer of Northam, told analysts that the company was exploring co-managing RBPlat with Impala. However, it had not yet determined whether to retain or sell its investment.
