A stalemate between Hudbay and one of its shareholders over a potential mine purchase in Chile seems to have ended for now.
In a press release issued by Hudbay on Dec. 13, the company announced it had denied two requests from Waterton Global Resource Management Inc. for a special meeting requisition and to appoint a Waterton representative to Hudbay’s board.
Hudbay board members met with Waterton on Nov. 1, after which Waterton issued the company what Hudbay described as a “list of demands to the Board that were entirely disproportionate to its ownership interest and would give Waterton unique rights and powers held by no other shareholder.”
In the release, Hudbay stated Waterton had requested access to “confidential company information” by having a Waterton employee appointed to the company’s board.
Any appointee to the board “would be entitled to attend all Hudbay Board and committee meetings and receive access to all materials provided to the Board as well as communications between management and the Board,” according to the release.
“While Hudbay remains open to continued dialogue, it is disappointed with Waterton’s personal attacks on certain [members] of the company’s leadership, its selective use of performance metrics and its revisionist history regarding its confrontational approach to date.”
Trouble between the two companies began to brew in October when American media reports linked Hudbay to a potential purchase of Chilean mining company Mantos Copper SA. According to Mantos’ website, the company owns and operates two mines in Chile, employing more than 2,000 people and producing more than 100,000 tons of copper each year.
When discussions between Hudbay and Mantos were made public, Waterton urged Hudbay to “immediately terminate” the talks, according a report from Bloomberg News.
Waterton is a private equity firm based in Toronto with significant investments in mining and other industries. On Dec. 10, the firm announced the purchase of more than 900,000 shares in Hudbay, bringing their total share ownership of Hudbay to 10 per cent.
The Hudbay news release stated that Waterton was “a relatively recent shareholder” and that it “competes with Hudbay for mining assets and may not have interests aligned with other shareholders.”
