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  • Chinese private company, Shandong Goldsea Group, has issued an unsolicited takeover bid for Alto Metals (AME) through its Australian subsidiary
  • The share buy-out is valued at $20.7 million and would give Goldsea control of the Sandstone Gold Mine in Western Australia
  • Since announcing the offer, Goldsea Group has completed an environmental review of the mine and filed for approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board
  • Alto Metals acknowledged that the bid has been sent but has otherwise made no comment on its decision
  • Alto Metals shares are up 9.09 per cent today, trading for six cents per share

Chinese private company, Shandong Goldsea Group, has issued an unsolicited takeover bid for Alto Metals (AME) through its Australian subsidiary.

Goldsea has offered to purchase all shares in Alto for $20.7 million, at 6.5 cents a share. This was almost double the market rate at the time of the offer.

The unsolicited bid was announced late last month. At the time, Alto Metals told shareholders to be patient, as the terms of the deal remained unclear. 

Notably, Goldsea would attain control of the Sandstone Gold Mine in Western Australia through the takeover.

With the bid now ready to be formally accepted or rejected, Alto Metals will need to decide whether the deal is attractive enough to consider.

Goldsea is an Australian subsidiary of the private Shandong Goldsea Group, a large Chinese company with assets in mining and real estate.

Goldsea has already passed a number of hurdles to get to the takeover. The company previously filed for approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board in late February.

The board recently allowed for blanket extensions to review deadlines, due to screening issues caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the board has set April 27 as the review deadline and Goldsea has been informed that an extension to this date is not likely.

Today’s announcement also states that Goldsea engaged a third-party to perform the necessary environmental review of the Sandstone Gold Mine, which is now complete. 

Alto Metals acknowledged that the bid has been sent but has otherwise made no comment on its decision. 

Alto Metals shares are up 9.09 per cent today, trading for six cents per share at 10:39 am AEST.

AME by the numbers
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