3 ASX Announcements You May Have Missed – Monday, March 22

Crown share price +21%

Crown Resorts Limited (CWN) revealed that it had received a non-binding takeover proposal from Blackstone Group, a leading global investment firm.

The indicative offer price of the takeover bid currently stands at $11.85 per share (for all of Crown's shares), representing a significant premium to where CWN traded at before the potential takeover was announced.

There are a number of conditions for the takeover to be approved, including due diligence, the arrangement of debt finance and approval from Blackstone's investment commitment.

Centrally, the company said its board had ‘not yet formed a view on the merits of the proposal’.

As with many companies, the last year has been a volatile one for Crown shareholders, with the stock trading between $5.64-11.77 per share.

Analysts from Ord Minnett, who have a Neutral rating on Crown, said:

‘Blackstone’s bid for Crown Resorts comes at a time of uncertainty, but may be the start of the end, considering the implied EBITDA bid multiple is in the mid-range of the long-run trading range (7.9x – 10.6x).’

Freedom Foods share price - 79%

After being hit with a mammoth accounting scandal last year, Freedom Foods (FNP) would see its stock suspended from official quotation on June 25, 2020, finishing out that session at $3.01 per share.

The company saw its stock restated for official quotation on Monday, March 22. With much uncertainty hanging over the company, including an ongoing lawsuit, Freedom’s share price was crushed when trading commenced, opening at $0.20 per share. Put another way, the stock lost 93% of its value in the span of just a few minutes.

All this comes as Freedom last week announced was recapitalising its business, with the company aiming to raise as much as $265 million, through the issuance of unlisted, subordinated secured convertible notes.

This process, management argued, will help the company pay down between $183-233 million in debt, a step which was positioned as vital to the company’s turnaround.

Elsewhere, in a small announcement made to the ASX Monday morning, it was revealed that Stuart Black, who recently joined Freedom's board as an Independent Non-Executive Director, currently held no FNP securities.

Mineral Resources share price -3%

Hard rock lithium and iron ore miner Mineral Resources (MIN) on Monday announced it had achieved first iron ore production at its Wonumunna Mine.

The company said it 'expects Wommunna to ramp up to the approved 5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) run rate in the June Quarter 2021.'

Despite that news, the stock was down 3.2% to $37.80 per share, at the time of writing. This comes as iron ore prices flounder, with IG’s Iron Ore instrument down 2.98% at the time of writing.

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