News

June 26, 2008

HudBay Minerals Makes A First Foray Into The Nickel Market With The Acquisition Of Skye Resources

By Our Canadian Correspondent

Back in March, we mentioned that the appointment of Colin Benner as chief executive of nickel developer Skye Resources had sparked renewed talk that the company would be in play. Well fast forward to June and HudBay Minerals has tabled an all-share offer to acquire Skye, which owns the Fenix nickel project in Guatemala.

HudBay, Canada's third-biggest zinc and copper producer, is offering up 0.61 of its shares for each Skye share. Under the terms of the proposed deal, HudBay would also buy around 12.7 million shares in Skye at a price of C$7.51 per share via a private placement. At the end of the day that would give HudBay 160.9 million outstanding shares, and Skye’s current shareholders would hold 20.3 percent. Skye has agreed to pay a break fee of C$14 million to HudBay if another takeover offer...