Lonmin Chairman Sir John Craven last night (September 2nd) urged potential bidders for the company to clarify their positions. Earlier in the day, the world's third-largest platinum producer announced that it had rejected a £5.6 billion takeover bid from hostile suitor Xstrata.

Sir John suggested that the bid fell well short of his valuation of the company, although he initially refused to confirm or deny whether there were any other buyers in the running.

However, he has now spoken out by claiming that Lonmin is not an "independent at any price" company and encouraged potential suitors to "come forward and put their best offer on the table".

There are rumoured to be two companies contemplating lodging an offer after making informal approaches, one of which is believed to be Impala Platinum. While the Xstrata bid valued shares at around £32 - even without a control premium - some analysts are suggesting that Lonmin will hold out for offers closer to £40 per share.



Source:
Lonmin invites suitors to the table (02/09/08)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/money/2008/09/03/cnlonmin103.xml