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Closed -end investment company Zeta Resources Ltd (ASX:ZER) is moving closer to acquisition of the beleaguered nickel miner Panoramic Resources – five years after it rejected a share buyout of the company from Independence Group.
Zeta – which is a majority shareholder in Panoramic (with 15.3% control) has proposed a Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA) in relation to the company, which is scheduled for consideration at a reconvened second meeting of the latter’s creditors on the 2nd of October.
Administrators of the Panoramic Companies have already thrown their support behind the action, releasing a supplementary report to creditors which recommends a vote in favour of the DOCA.
The DOCA would see Zeta become 100% owner of all Panoramic shares, with this representing another significant milestone in the latter’s unfortunate history.
Operations at Panoramic’s Savannah nickel-copper-cobalt mine in WA were shut down at the beginning of this year, a month after Panoramic was placed into administration (overseen by FTI Consulting) in the wake of weak nickel price.
This had followed the company’s shares being suspended in November 2023, as Panoramic failed to sell off Savannah – which had previously been placed in care and mintenance in 2015, restarted three years later, then closed again in 2020 due to the pandemic and the negative outlook for nickel prices.
The DOCA’s implementation has several conditions, including the creditors approving and executing it by 23 October, the approval of the FIRB, the administrators gaining court orders and ASIC relief for transfer of Panoramic shares, and a resolution of outstanding claims from Barminco Ltd.
Additionally, amendments need to be made to current arrangements with Trafigura Pte Ltd (creditor of some Panoramic Companies), and Zeta must subscribe for convertible notes in Panoramic of up to A$15.5 million and complete a transaction which will allow for the purchase of these notes to be funded.
Zeta has been trading flat at 22 cents.
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