Oz Minerals has reached acceptances in its bid for the Brazilian copper-gold miner Avanco, totalling 73.9 percent of company shares.

The company requires 50.1 per cent of investor shares for the takeover of Avanco to proceed.

Of the 73.9 per cent, Oz Minerals has received 63.7% in direct acceptances and 10.2 per cent in acceptance instructions under the institutional acceptance facility, all of which relate to shares held by an investor – BlackRock.

Acceptances have been received from all of Avanco’s major shareholders including Appian, Greenstone Resources and Glencore.

OZ Minerals Executives Andrew Cole, Mark Irwin and Warrick Ranson have been appointed Non-Executive Directors of the Avanco Board, with Andrew Cole assuming the role of Chairman. Avanco Board directors Simon Mottram and Luis Azevedo have retired from the Board but remain as senior executives with Avanco. Luiz Ferraz has retired from the Board. Tony Polglase has stepped down as Managing Director of Avanco and is now Chief Executive, Brazil.

OZ Minerals intends to place secondees into key management and technical roles in Brazil without delay.

Source: www.ozminerals.com