JIANGXI COPPER (00358) surged more than 4% in afternoon trading, up 4.2% to HK$36.68, with a turnover of HK$737 million. The company recently raised its takeover offer for UK-listed SolGold to 28 pence per share, valuing the deal at approximately £842 million (US$1.13 billion). This marks JIANGXI COPPER's third bid in three weeks.
A successful acquisition would significantly bolster JIANGXI COPPER's resource reserves and potentially double its long-term copper production. SolGold's flagship asset is the Cascabel copper-gold project in Ecuador, widely regarded as one of the world's premier undeveloped copper-gold deposits.
Citi noted that while JIANGXI COPPER's copper smelting margins are expected to decline year-on-year next year, higher copper, gold, and sulfuric acid prices are likely to drive overall margin growth. The bank views the current valuation as attractive and maintains a "Buy" rating for both its A-shares and H-shares.
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