OZ Minerals’ Lenders Agree to Extend Debt Repayment

By Jesse Riseborough and Madelene Pearson

May 1 (Bloomberg) -- OZ Minerals Ltd., the world’s second- biggest zinc producer, won a two-month extension on A$1.1 billion ($802 million) of debt, giving it time to complete the sale of most of its assets to China Minmetals Group.

Lenders agreed to extend the deadline on loans that were due for repayment yesterday until June 30, subject to a number of conditions, Melbourne-based OZ said today in a statement to the Australian stock exchange. The company is seeking to complete the sale to Minmetals by mid-June following a shareholder vote, it said this week.

OZ Minerals, formed last year through the merger of Oxiana Ltd. and Zinifex Ltd., was forced to sell assets to repay debt after metals prices plummeted. Asset sales will boost the company’s cash reserves to about A$750 million, according to an April 29 report by Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc analysts.

The company’s total cash balance was $109.5 million as at April 30, OZ Minerals said today. It has drawn A$107 million of a A$140 million short-term bridging loan, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jesse Riseborough in Melbourne at jriseborough@bloomberg.net;