South African open pit mining firm, Afrimat Limited has withdrawn its offer to buy Australian-listed Universal Coal given the size and complexity of the transaction, it announced on Wednesday.
In April, Afrimat bid for Universal, a company with operations in South Africa, for $0.2798 per share as part of its diversification strategy.
At that time, Universal which also supplies coal to state-owned power utility Eskom, had also received a revised takeover offer from a consortium led by South African entity Ata Resources, with a cash consideration lifted to 36 cents from earlier offer of 35 cents.
“Following a thorough due diligence process and extensive consideration Afrimat’s board and management has decided not to proceed with the acquisition given the size and nature of the transaction”, Afrimat said in a statement.
Shares of Universal fell as much as 16.4% to a near one-year low of A$0.255 after the withdrawal of Afrimat’s takeover offer.