Mining billionaire Gina Rinehart has lifted her bid for iron ore group Atlas Iron to 4.6c per share in a quest to tempt rival richlister Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals to sell its stake.
Mrs Rinehart put a 4.6c per share offer on the table for the business last night, with the proposal conditional on her stake in the company increasing to 87 per cent.
Mrs Rinehart holds 77 per cent of the stock and is eager to increase her holding to 90 per, which will enable her to acquire the whole company.
Atlas Iron has previously been on the brink of collapse amid the mining downturn and was recapitalised by funds that exchanged debt for equity.
Ms Rinehart, through her entity Redstone, lifted her bid to 4.6c to appease fellow mining baron and Atlas shareholder Andrew Forrest, who was said to require a bid of that level to sell his remaining stake into the offer.
Atlas was trading at 1.9c before Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources offered 3c a share for the West Australian Iron ore miner.
But while MinRes started the bidding competition, it later bowed out.
Ms Rinehart later trumped the MinRes bid by offering 4.2c, per share, before increasing the offer to 4.45c per share and increasing again last night to 4.6c per share.
The latest offer also extends the timeframe for the bid until October 2.
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