Cardinal Resources (ASX:CDV) takeover by China's Shandong finally wraps up

Shandong Gold has nearly completed its acquisition of Cardinal Resources after a bidding war with Russia. Canada isn't so keen.

Gretchen Kennedy

Gretchen grew up in a small Connecticut town where she learned to read The Wall Street Journal as part of the grade six enrichment program. She moved to Australia in 2002, earned a Master of Arts (Professional Writing) and went on to spend eight years writing on Wall Street. In June 2018, Gretchen returned to Australia and has since developed a keen interest in all things ASX. In December 2020, she started writing for the Motley Fool. Gretchen's usually writing something, reading a book or chasing her dogs around.

Published January 28, 2021 5:32 pm AEDT

The Chinese state-owned Shandong Gold's acquisition of Cardinal Resources Ltd (ASX:CDV) is just about complete.

Shandong is one of the world's largest gold miners, and the company announced today that it now has a relevant interest in 95.62% of all Cardinal shares. Shandong will acquire all remaining shares by 3 February 2021.

Five business days later, Cardinal's shares will be suspended and the ASX will remove Cardinal from its official list.

A fight to the finish: China and Russia duke it out over Cardinal

The path to where we are has not been straight forward. Just a few months ago, there was a public bidding war between Shandong and Russian mining giant Nord Gold S.E. over the acquisition of Cardinal Resources.

Back in September, Nord Gold put out a public offer of 90 cents a share to acquire Cardinal Resources. Shandong bid $1 and that's what set off the war over Cardinal.

Russia and China continued to haggle for around three months in an effort to outbid the other. Finally, at the end of December, Shandong reigned victorious with the winning offer of $1.07 a share.

Now here we are, nearly a month later, and the deal is coming to a close.

Why won't Canada sell to Shandong?

Meanwhile, Shandong has also been making moves to buy another gold mine located in the Canadian Arctic. However, as reported in Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the effort was blocked last month by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The reason the purchase was blocked is due to growing concern about the rising influence Beijing is having in both Canada and the polar region. According to the WSJ, advice for this action came from former Canadian national security and military officials.

The Australian also mentions Canada's concerns over national security and notes that if relations between Canada and China remain tense over this issue, it may open new opportunities for Australian coking coal exports in Beijing.

How has this impacted the Cardinal Resources share price?

The Cardinal Resources share price currently sits at $1.06 having gained around 187% over the past 12-month period. Looking at a five-year window, Cardinal Resources shares are up close to 800%.

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