Perilya requests trading halt

Lead and zinc miner Perilya Ltd has been granted a trading halt, saying that its merger with fellow mid tier miner CBH Resources Ltd is nearing completion.

"Discussions between Perilya and CBH ... have reached a stage where it believes a trading halt in Perilya shares is appropriate," Perilya said in a statement late today before being granted a halt by the Australian stock exchange.

"It is expected that an announcement to end the trading halt will be made before the market opens on Tuesday 24 June 2008," the company said.

The companies announced on March 26 plans to merge, creating a $500 million metals producer.

The proposal is for Perilya to acquire all of CBH's ordinary shares and convertible notes.

CBH shareholders will receive one Perilya ordinary share in exchange for three CBH shares and one Perilya option in exchange for 20 CBH shares.

Following the merger, CBH shareholders will hold about 59 per cent of the combined entity while Perilya shareholders will hold the remainder.

The tie-up will bring together the companies' neighbouring lead, zinc and silver projects at Broken Hill and CBH's Endeavour mine at Cobar, both in western New South Wales.

It will also take in Perilya's Flinders zinc project in South Australia, including the Beltana mine, CBH's Panorama copper-zinc development in Western Australia, Perilya's Mount Oxide copper development in Queensland and CBH's multi-metal Hera deposit near Endeavour.

Shares in Perilya closed 4.5 cents, or six per cent, lower at 70.5 cents, while CBH's shares finished down half a cent, or 1.89 per cent, at 26 cents.