24 June 2008
24 June 2008: A team from Clayton Utz Melbourne has advised ASX-listed international mining and exploration company Oxiana Limited on its recently approved merger with Zinifex Limited by scheme of arrangement.
The Supreme Court of Victoria approved the scheme last Friday, with the merger's implementation date set for 1 July.
Subject to shareholder approval, the merged entity will be called OZ Minerals Limited and will have a market capitalisation of around $10 billion.
Melbourne corporate partner Ron Smooker led the Clayton Utz team advising Oxiana, which included partners Charles Rosedale, Brendan Groves and Fred Prickett and lawyers Amanda Jones, Sachi Haga and Peter Sise.
Mr Smooker said the merger was unusual in being a true "merger of equals".
"Shareholders of both Oxiana and Zinifex will each own 50 per cent of the shares in the merged company following the completion of the deal," Mr Smooker said.
"The emphasis on the transaction being truly a merger meant that the negotiations and the Merger Implementation Agreement focused far more than usual on cultural issues."
Mr Smooker said the merged group intended to use its strong balance sheet to grow quickly both by project development and acquisitions.
