West African focused iron ore company Sphere Minerals Ltd. (ASX:SPH) has confirmed that it has not received any rival bid to the one made by Xstrata to its shareholders.
A statement released on Tuesday said that the Sphere board reaffirms that Xstrata's recommended offer is the only offer currently before shareholders and that shareholders should accept the offer in the absence of a superior proposal.
Singapore based company Sin - Tang Developments had emerged as a possible rival to Xstrata and speculation ran wild after it was proved that the company had an 8.63 % stake in Sphere Minerals. However there has been no takeover offer forthcoming from Sin - Tang Developments.
Goldman Sachs has been appointed by Sphere Minerals to act as a financial advisor for the Xstrata takeover bid. Originally the bid was supposed to expire tomorrow but Xstrata had extended the offer last month till October 19, 2010.
Sphere Minerals is primarily focused on Western Africa and has three iron ore projects in Mauritania. Xstrata's offer for Sphere Minerals is a bid to expand its iron ore holdings with these magnetite iron ore desposits in Mauritania.