Rockwell shareholders give thumbs up for Bristco merger

Bristow, who is also a director of Rockwell and CEO of Barrick Gold Corporation, will acquire each outstanding common share of Rockwell, other than the shares already held by him and any dissenting shareholder, at a price of C$0.005 apiece.

The transaction will effectively delist Rockwell from the JSE once concluded, which is expected to occur on March 10.

Rockwell previously stated that the acquisition and amalgamation agreement is in line with its winding down strategy.

Rockwell operated and developed alluvial diamond deposits in South Africa through various subsidiaries before business rescue practitioners (BRPs) filed a motion to place three subsidiaries in liquidation in November 2016.

The embattled company’s shares were delisted from the TSX at the end of August 2017.

In January 2018, Rockwell reported that a formal liquidation application for subsidiaries Rockwell Resources, HC van Wyk Diamonds and Saxendrift Mine had been postponed to March 2018, to give Ascot enough time to negotiate a deal with the provisional liquidators Honey Attorneys of Bloemfontein.

At the time, the diamond company had said the process had been complicated by “hasty BRPs” moving the liquidation process forward despite having a more valuable offer for the distressed assets in hand.

Rockwell had in recent years claimed that the difficulties it was facing were as a result of significant irregularities in the conduct of a major contractor and one senior employee, who were terminated in 2016.