At long last, Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting claims win in Atlas Iron takeover saga

Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting will take full control of Atlas Iron by compulsory acquisition after her interest in the miner ticked over the 90 per cent threshold.

Remaining Atlas shareholders will receive 4.6¢-a-share for their scrip as per the latest sweetened bid, with the offer formally closing on Friday at 5pm.

Hancock will then move to have Atlas removed from the ASX, with the entity being swallowed into Hancock.

Hancock chief executive Garry Korte said the company would now turn its attention to how best to integrate the Atlas business into the broader iron ore interests of the Hancock Group.

The company has not yet revealed its plans for Atlas, which operates the Mt Webber low-grade iron ore mine in the Pilbara and trucks its ore to Port Hedland for export through the Utah Point multi-user berth.

However, the acquisition provides Hancock with its first fully-owned and operating iron ore mine.

Hancock holds a 50 per cent interest in the 47 million tonne-a-year Hope Downs project as part of a joint venture with Rio Tinto and a 70 per cent interest in the Roy Hill project, an integrated iron ore mine, railway and port project with nameplate capacity of 55mtpa.

Roy Hill has its own berth at Port Hedland.

Hancock also has various iron ore exploration prospects in the Pilbara, including its Mulga Downs project.

Mrs Rinehart has twice had to sweeten her original $390 million cash bid for Atlas to gain full control of the company, with her latest offer representing a price of $427 million.

Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group had been the biggest barrier in her bid to secure full control of the junior miner when it originally held onto a 19.9 per cent stake that it later sold down to 11 per cent.

Fortescue agreed to fold its remaining stake into the Hancock bid last month when it became clear that Hancock could buy the ailing junior miner’s debt, and effectively put it into liquidation, leaving FMG and other remaining shareholders with nothing.

Fortescue emerged with its 19.9 per cent stake in Atlas in June after Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources launched a $280 million all-scrip takeover bid in April.

Hancock joined soon after with a similar stake and later launched a $390 million cash offer, representing a value of 4.2¢ a share.

MinRes dropped out of the race with shareholders’ hopes for a rival bid from Fortescue failing to materialise.

Atlas shares were off 1¢, or 2.17 per cent, to 4.5¢ at 11am.