Helix investor makes partial takeover bid, proposing board changes

Helix Resources Ltd (ASX:HLX) has received a partial takeover bid from one of its main investors, Perth-based Acta Investment Group Pty Ltd, with the latter expressing the intention to acquire 25% of ordinary shares in the miner, on top of its currently held 9.42%.

Acta said it would offer a consideration of $0.005 per share to shareholders interested in the offer, adding that this represented a 39% premium to Helix’s 30-day VWAP (volume-weighted average price) of $0.0036.

The investment group – which is headed up by mining engineer and investor Michael Povey – claimed the reason for a partial takeover bid was to bring a ‘fresh approach’ to the company, given a share price loss of nearly 90% between May 2021 and May 2024.

If the offer is accepted, it would see Acta hold a 32.1% share in Helix.

Mr Povey emphasised that although investors had raised more than $12 million for the company, they had ‘very little…to show for the significant amount of capital invested’. Crucially, it called for the appointment of a new board and management team ‘entirely focused on generating returns for shareholders’.

Helix – which last week announced an earn-in joint venture deal with Legacy Minerals which would expand its foothold in the Cobar copper-gold project in NSW – saw its shares move up on the news.

At 13:15 AEST, Helix shares were trading at 0.4 cents, a rise of 12.5% since the market opened.