Kenmare Resources shares soared by as much as 41 per cent in London on Tuesday as the titanium minerals miner confirmed it has received a bid approach from a company controlled by the de facto business head of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family.
It follows a report in The Irish Times that International Resources Holding (IRH), a unit of International Holding Company (IHC), which is chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has been running a fresh round over Kenmare two years after it previously looked at pursuing a bid.
Sheikh Tahnoon is a brother of the president of the United Arab Emirates and a key figure overseeing the business interests of the Al Nahyan family, Abu Dhabi’s ruling royal family. IHC has a market value of the equivalent of more than €190 billion.
“The board of Kenmare Resources plc notes recent press speculation and confirms that it has received a non-binding proposal from International Resources Holdings RSC Ltd regarding a possible cash offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Kenmare,” Kenmare said in a statement.
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Kenmare, led by chief executive Tom Hickey, added that discussions are ongoing and that IRH has been given a deadline of 5pm on November 17th to at least declare a firm intention to make a formal offer or walk away.
Shares in Kenmare jumped as much as 41 per cent to £2.555 on Tuesday in London, where they are more frequently traded than in Dublin. That gave the company a market value of £228 million (€268.6 million).
Kenmare’s shares were trading more than 50 per cent below their 2024 highs before the news – their lowest level in more than seven years – amid ongoing falling prices for titanium minerals and uncertainty and protracted talks over a new royalties agreement regarding its key Moma mine in Mozambique.
The mine produces about 6 per cent of global titanium stocks. Its main products, ilmenite and rutile, are used in everything from paints, plastics and paper to aircraft, medical equipment and golf clubs.
News of the fresh interest from IRH comes 16 months after Kenmare Resources walked away from takeover talks with its former managing director, Michael Carvill, and another Abu Dhabi company, private equity firm Oryx Global Partners, after the consortium made it clear it would only be willing to proceed with a bid that was below an initial £473 million proposal previously made in March 2025.
The proposal is another example of Abu Dhabi’s willingness to continue doing outbound deals amid the upheaval in the region due to the Iran war.
Sheikh Tahnoon oversees vast swathes of the city’s oil wealth as chairman of its biggest wealth fund, its top lender and its main artificial intelligence investor. These institutions have become some of the main vehicles for deploying the emirate’s substantial capital around the world.
IHC is Abu Dhabi’s largest listed firm and counts IRH as one of its units. Like other IHC units, the mining group has been prolific in recent years. It entered the mining industry in late 2023, when it struck a $1.1 billion deal for Zambia’s Mopani copper complex.
Last year, it agreed to acquire a majority stake in Alphamin Resources Corporation, gaining access to one of the world’s biggest tin mines.
Kenmare said its statement on Tuesday, in response to The Irish Times report, was made without IRH’s approval. IRH declined to comment.
– Additional reporting: Bloomberg.
