Australia's leading independent law firm, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, has advised Vault Minerals Ltd (Vault) (ASX: VAU) on its proposed merger with Genesis Minerals Ltd (Genesis) (ASX: GMD) to create a top three Australian gold producer with a pro forma market capitalisation of approximately A$12.6 billion.
The proposed transaction follows the previously announced A$10.7 billion ‘merger of equals’ transaction with Regis Resources and receipt by Vault of an unsolicited proposal from Genesis which the Vault Board determined to be superior to the previously announced Regis transaction.
Under the proposed merger, Genesis will acquire 100% of the fully paid ordinary shares in Vault by way of an Australian court-approved scheme of arrangement. Vault shareholders will receive 0.7629 new Genesis shares and A$0.475 in cash for each Vault share held, with a mix-and-match facility to enable them to elect to receive full cash consideration or full scrip consideration (subject to scale back).
The merged group is expected to have annual gold production of approximately 600,000 - 700,000 ounces, ore reserves of approximately 9.4 million ounces and net cash of approximately A$611 million. Genesis has estimated that the combination could deliver more than A$2 billion in synergies through the integration of the companies' complementary asset portfolios.
The transaction was led by corporate partner Russell Philip and special counsel Michael Denny, with support from lawyers across Corrs' corporate, energy and natural resources, competition, tax, litigation and environment and planning practices.
Commenting on the matter, Russell Philip said: "We are extremely pleased to have advised Vault on this proposed transaction, which is one of the more logical combinations of two significant participants in Western Australia's gold sector, to create a leading Australian gold producer."
"It has been a career highlight to work closely with the Vault Board and management team on a series of transactions focussed on building a substantial gold business in the Leonora region of Western Australia."
Corrs has advised the Vault management team on a number of strategic transactions in the gold sector, including the proposed acquisition of St Barbara’s Australian gold assets in 2023, Silver Lake’s merger with Red 5 Limited (to create Vault) in 2024 and the proposed ‘merger of equals’ transaction with Regis Resources announced earlier this year.