The Irish Takeover Panel (ITP) has set a deadline for Canada's Almonty Industries to make a formal offer for Irish exploration group Ormonde Mining.

The board of Ormonde earlier this year rejected an unsolicited takeover approach from Almonty, which had proposed to swap one of its shares for every 12.2 Ormonde shares.

Following representations from Ormonde, and correspondence with advisors to both companies, the IPT yesterday set a deadline of January 31st for Almonty to either announce an offer for Ormonde or state that it will not proceed with an offer.

If Almonty chooses not to proceed it will then be restricted from further approaches for at least 12 months.

The board of Ormonde welcomed the IPT’s move.

The Dublin and London-listed company said that in the period since its original offer the Canadian company’s share price had fallen by about 30 per cent.

It also noted that Almonty’s current liabilities were now 40 per cent higher than its assets.

As a result, it described Almonty’s stated interest in Ormonde was “opportunistic and without merit for Ormonde shareholders”.

“The board of Ormonde remains firmly and unanimously of the view that the proposal from Almonty lacks both strategic and economic merit.”