Australia blocks voting rights of some China-linked investors in Northern Minerals
MELBOURNE - Northern Minerals said on Tuesday that Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers has ordered three offshore investment firms, including Hong Kong Ying Tak, to refrain from exercising their voting rights in the rare earths developer.
Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) said Hong Kong Ying Tak, British Virgin Islands-registered Real International Resources, and Hong Kong-registered Qogir Trading & Service failed to comply with earlier government orders to reduce their stakes in Northern Minerals.
In May, Treasurer Chalmers ordered six offshore shareholders to divest their holdings by July 2 over concerns that Chinese-linked parties were seeking control of the rare earths miner.
Reuters was unable to contact Ying Tak, which has no phone number or email listed on Hong Kong's companies registry, for comment.
"Northern Minerals welcomes the Federal Treasurer's interim directions regarding compliance with his May Disposal Orders," Northern Minerals chairperson Adam Handley said on Tuesday.
Handley said a review of Northern Minerals' share register on July 10 found that most of the shares covered by the May divestment orders were still held by the investors targeted by those orders.
