Equinox Minerals would consider selling some of Lundin Mining’s assets in order to clear off debt, the company’s CEO said in a conference call to analysts on Thursday. Equinox has bid CAD$4.8 billion in a challenge to Inmet Mining’s friendly merger with Lundin, but needs a $3.2 billion bridge loan, according to the story by Bloomberg.
“We would consider asset sales in the context of non-core, non-copper assets,” Craig Williams, chief executive of the Perth-based company, said today. Equinox may sell Lundin’s Zinkgruvan zinc mine in Sweden, he said.
Equinox bid C$4.8 billion ($4.95 billion) last month for Lundin, challenging an agreed takeover from Inmet Mining Corp. Equinox has a $3.2 billion bridging loan arranged through Goldman Sachs Lending Partners and Credit Suisse Securities.
The company will seek to restructure about $700 million of the loan “as soon as practical,” Williams said. It plans to move the remainder into convertible debt facilities and high- yield bonds, he said.
