The Hanlong Group has launched a takeover bid for Australia-based iron ore miner Sundance Resources Ltd. at a price of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, sources with the company confirmed Tuesday.
Hanlong currently owns 18.6 percent of the Africa-focused iron ore exploration company, which has a controlling stake in the Mbalam iron ore project on the border of the Republic of Congo and Cameroon.
Exploration results show that the Mbalam mine has iron ore reserves of 2.8 billion metric tons. The iron ore project by Sundance is scheduled to start operation in 2014, with an annual turnover of 50 million metric tons.
The takeover bid was initiated by Hanlong Mining, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Hanlong Group, on Friday.
Shares in Sundance leaped 20 percent on Monday after the announcement of the takeover bid.
Hanlong's board chairman Liu Han said his company aims to become the world's fourth-largest iron ore provider within 10 years on the back of an aggressive overseas strategy.
Founded in 1997, Hanlong employs more than 12,000 workers at its 30-plus subsidiaries, which have total assets of over 36 billion yuan and annual sales of 16 billion yuan. The company does business in a variety of sectors including mining, energy, medicine, high-tech products, food, tourism, infrastructure construction and property development.