We can just hope with our whole heart that Afrimat is more responsible with regards to environmental matters. Infrasors left a legacy of mindless destruction and greed.

From: http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/industrials/2013/01/21/afrimat-makes-offer-for-specialist-miner-infrasors

JSE-listed industrial materials supplier and minerals miner Afrimat has taken advantage of the downturn in the steel and iron industry to make its latest acquisition, CEO Andries van Heerden said on Friday.

"We have been saying in the past we want to grow our minerals mining operations" Mr van Heerden said.

Afrimat said Hanchurch Asset Management and a number of Infrasors’s retiring managers accepted its conditional offer of R36.8m in return for their 50.4% stake in JSE-listed diversified resources miner Infrasors.

Infrasors produces minerals for the mining, industrial, metallurgical and construction sectors. It owns the Lyttelton Centurion Mine, an opencast dolomite mine in Pretoria, the Marble Hall Mine opencast limestone mining and beneficiation operation, and the Delf alluvial sand and silica operations at Donkerhoek near Cullinan.

Last year Infrasors reported lower earnings as sales of metallurgical minerals were knocked by strike action in the steel industry along with the shutdown of furnaces.

At 35c a share, Afrimat’s cash offer comes as a discount to the 52c at which Infrasors closed on Thursday, the day before the deal was unveiled.

Infrasors closed nearly 6% down on Friday at 49c, nearing the bottom end of a 52-week range of 41c and 93c. "It’s always the best time to acquire a business at the bottom of the business cycle," Mr van Heerden said.

Afrimat said the proposed transaction received the unconditional approval of the Competition Commission last year.

It was now subject to approval by Afrimat’s board, the Takeover Regulation Panel, the JSE and other authorities.

Absa, Infrasors’ lender, will also have to give consent to the deal. Once approved, this will lay the ground for Afrimat to make an offer for the remaining shares in the company.

Afrimat said it intended to take control of the board of directors and to implement its own management practices.

For the past four years, Afrimat has grown through acquisitions. Its acquisition of the Clinker Group for R122m helped raise volumes of its mining and aggregates division.


Also see: Engineering News : Afrimat makes offer to acquire 50.4% of Infrasors