Deals

Decmil Group has expanded its business with the acquisition of Melbourne-based civil engineering company Cut & Fill Pty Ltd for $9.5 million.

Disability services provider Rocky Bay has taken over the services of 45-year-old agency Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association of Western Australia.

Perth-based international recruitment agency Tecside Group has acquired health and resources-focused Subiaco recruitment firm SeaStone Group for an undisclosed amount.

Carnarvon Petroleum has acquired a 35 per cent stake in Quadrant Energy’s Barrow sub-basin oil project, and has committed $10 million towards a drilling program scheduled for June.

A consortium led by logistics group QUBE Holdings has made a binding takeover proposal for rail and ports operator Asciano, hoping to trump a rival offer from a group led by Canadian predator Brookfield Infrastructure.

Perth-based Excalibur Mining Corporation’s shares closed over 150 per cent higher on news it was considering an acquisition of Singapore-based tech company Dropmysite for an undisclosed sum.

Shares in oil and gas company AWE have rallied on news it has sold its stake in the Sugarloaf project in the US for $US190 million ($A271 million).

VDM Group has finalised terms for an $18 million loan facility with its largest shareholder to fund an investment in a copper project located in the Republic of Angola.

Rio Tinto has agreed to sell its Mount Pleasant thermal coal mine site in the NSW Hunter Valley for $US224 million ($A319 million) plus royalties.

Telecom giant Telstra has struck a deal to buy a tech company that helps companies and governments navigate cloud computing.

Broadspectrum has resoundingly urged shareholders to reject the $692 million takeover offer from Spanish company Ferrovial, saying it significantly undervalues the business.

Former Kimberley Land Council CEO Wayne Bergmann has bought the National Indigenous Times from the liquidator of the company behind the newspaper.

Mining services company Sedgman has asked the Takeovers Panel to stop construction giant CIMIC Group from buying any more of its shares.

Mining services company MACA plans to broaden its gold portfolio through the purchase of local private business Alliance Contracting for $5 million.

Wild Acre Metals has flagged a second attempt at acquiring technology company Nuheara after the target completed a working prototype of its wearable IQbuds hearing product.

Shares in iron ore hopeful Sundance Resources were stripped of half their value after the company announced an aggressive cost reduction strategy that includes job cuts and a reduction in board size and remuneration.

Wesfarmers has announced plans to spend over $1 billion in the UK market after sealing a deal to buy the Homebase home improvement chain for $705 million and rebrand it as Bunnings.

SPECIAL REPORT: Livestock exporter Wellard has had a rocky start to life as a listed company after completing Western Australia’s second-largest capital raising of 2015, and the state’s sixth-largest initial public offerings of all time. Wellard’s $299 million IPO was one of the few high points of 2015, when a lack of mining deals led a sharp slide in overall capital raising activity.

SPECIAL REPORT: Local firms Azure Capital and Hartleys punched above their weight in 2015 in what was a lucrative year for a handful of top corporate advisers in WA. Click through to see which corporate advisers, lawyers and brokers managed 470 M&A and capital raising deals.

Australian Reliance has become the third major insurance broker in Western Australia to change hands in the space of five months, with newly listed company PSC Insurance Group agreeing to buy the Perth-based group.

The battle for control of Aditya Birla Minerals has intensified, with bidder Metals X extending its $68 million takeover offer to late February while accusing the target of lacking transparency around expenses.

Metals X has waived a minimum acceptance condition on its $68 million takeover bid for Aditya Birla Minerals after lifting its holding in the copper miner to 18.24 per cent, less than previously di

Mining services contractor Sedgman has told its shareholders to take no action towards CIMIC Group’s $153.1 million offer for all the shares it doesn’t already own in the business.

Citation Resources’ 40 per cent-owned subsidiary Pearl Global has struck a heads of agreement with a Singaporean renewable energy company to fund the development of up to 50 tyre recycling plants across Asia.

Perth-based explorer Carbine Resources has signed an offtake agreement with a chemical and mineral supplier for copper sulphate from its $63 million Mount Morgan project.

Engineering and construction contractor Decmil Group has won another extension to its contract for work at QGC’s Queensland Curtis Liquefied Natural Gas project in Gladstone, worth about $35 million.

The team behind Western Australian success story Aurora Oil & Gas has quietly completed a $24 million private placement, the first capital raising for their new oil and gas play, three months after acquiring their first assets in Portugal.

Elemental Minerals has negotiated an extra $US10 million in a proposal from a private equity group for an investment to assist the business advance its flagship Kola Sylvinite potash project.

Perth-based explorer Lithium Australia has attracted its first institutional investor for a big slice of its $6.55 million capital raising.

Tony Sage’s Cape Lambert Resources has announced plans to undertake its first capital raising since its initial offer, which was completed when the company listed on the ASX 16 years ago.

US-focused biotech company pSivida has released pricing details of a $US16 million capital raising, after two weeks of volatile trading in its ASX-listed shares.

A Perth-based online gaming company that has raised $14.6 million from private investors is pursuing a stockmarket float after reporting spectacular growth in revenue.