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As the SolGold (SOLG) board gets closer to a shareholder vote on the Jiangxi Copper buyout of the company, there are clearly some concerns about the level of support. 

The company said on Monday morning it would be forced to raise emergency cash “at a material discount to the JCC offer price” of 28p per share by the end of March if a 23 February vote on the buyout fails. As of 30 September the company had $34mn (ÂŁ25mn) in cash on the books and expenses of $9.4mn per quarter. 

While institutional owners, including BHP (BHP), have backed the ÂŁ842mn deal, with total support of 47 per cent of the register, retail holders have expressed anger at the price being paid by the Chinese miner. SolGold’s main asset is the Cascabel copper and gold project in Ecuador, which could be a large mine but will take serious investment to get to production. 

SolGold said: “The board [has] taken all relevant factors into account in considering the financial terms of the offer, which included views on long-term commodity prices, as well as the certainty that the acquisition provides SolGold shareholders and the feasibility of and risks associated with alternative strategic options to deliver greater value for SolGold shareholders.”

NatWest (NWG) has agreed to buy Evelyn Partners for £2.7bn as part of chief executive Paul Thwaite’s wealth management push, marking the bank’s most significant M&A since it returned to private ownership last year.

The private equity-backed wealth manager, owned by Permira but with Warburg Pincus as a minority investor, has ÂŁ69bn in assets under management and administration (AUMA). It generated ÂŁ179mn of Ebitda in 2025.

The combined entity would have £127bn of AUMA. It would boost NatWest’s private banking and wealth management business to a fifth of its total customer assets and liabilities.

More on the story here

WPP (WPP) is planning to merge its three main creative agencies under a single operational banner, as part of new chief executive Cindy Rose’s structural overhaul of the struggling FTSE 100 group.

The shares jumped in early trading before settling down after the that Rose, who took the helm from Mark Read in September, plans to fold Ogilvy, VML and AKQA into a new structure named WPP Creative.

While the agencies will move under one banner, WPP intends to keep the individual brands alive and allow them to run independently. The move is designed to strip away the holding company’s internal bureaucracy and present a unified front to clients, who increasingly demand a more integrated service.

The FT reported the plans were discussed during a two-day board meeting in New York, and noted the proposals are still being finalised and could change ahead of an announcement later this month.

Deep Dive: Can WPP break free from its growth rut?