St Barbara ends talks with Silver Lake on Leonara bid

Silver Lake had raised the cash component of the proposal by A$44 million after St Barbara rejected its earlier offer of A$707 million.

The latest bid of A$722 million ($489.73 million) is non-binding and unacceptably conditional compared to the fully documented, financed and shareholder-backed binding Genesis transaction, the gold miner said.

The gold miner has rebuffed Silver Lake multiple times in favour of a A$600 million proposal from peer Genesis Minerals.

“Genesis Transaction is fully and definitively documented, fully funded by a committed A$400 million capital raising, not subject to due diligence … and has received indications of support from about 49% of Genesis’ register,” said Kerry Gleeson, chair of St Barabara.

The company cited that the level of synergies from Silver Lake’s bid is weaker than what shareholders would benefit from Genesis’s offer.

“Silver lake has waited until the eleventh hour to demand that St Barbara entertain a disruptive and unrealistic two week due diligence exercise without any indication that Silver Lake shareholders would ever approve the proposal themselves,” Gleeson said.