Board backing it in

The Zenith board is recommending the bid, under which Zenith shareholders would receive one Forrestania share for every 4.3 Zenith shares held.

This would value Zenith shares at 13.2 cents, compared to the 9.9 cents they were changing hands for on Tuesday morning, up 10%.

Zenith said the Forrestania offer followed a strategic review process it started on May 7, and the Zenith board, which owns about 4.5% of the company, was unanimously recommending the offer.

The company said:

The Zenith Board believes the Transaction represents an attractive strategic and financial outcome for Zenith shareholders, providing a premium to recent trading prices while enabling shareholders to retain exposure to the future value potential of Zenith's assets through ownership in Forrestania.

Zenith said the combination of the two companies had many benefits, including the potential to accelerate its Dulcie gold project, which had experienced "transformational growth" and now had a mineral resource of 675,000 ounces of gold.

Zenith shareholders would also be able to get rollover tax relief from capital gains tax, provided Forrestania gained control of at least 80% of Zenith shares.

Zenith Managing Director Andrew Smith said:

The proposed combination with Forrestania represents a significant milestone for Zenith and follows a period of transformational growth across our portfolio, particularly at the Consolidated Dulcie Gold Project. Over the past two years, Zenith has successfully consolidated the broader Dulcie corridor and defined a JORC (2012) Inferred Mineral Resource of 675,000 ounces of gold across a ~6 kilometre mineralised trend within the Forrestania Belt. We believe this work has established Dulcie as one of the most significant emerging gold development projects in the district. The Board believes the combination with Forrestania provides Zenith shareholders with exposure to a larger and more diversified gold company, with enhanced funding capacity, technical capability and a regional operating platform that has the potential to accelerate the development of Zenith's assets.

The offer is subject to a minimum acceptance condition of 50.1%.

Already a significant shareholder

Forrestania told the ASX in a statement that it had so far acquired a 9.72% stake in Zenith.

Forrestania shares fell 9.7% on Tuesday morning to 46.5 cents, but are up 528% over the past 12 months, valuing the company at $680.7 million.

Zenith is valued at $54 million.

The post Up more than 140% over a year, this ASX gold stock has just fielded a takeover offer appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Four ASX shares that are not letting that hold them back are listed below. Here's why they are rising:

Atlas Arteria Group (ASX: ALX)

The Atlas Arteria share price is up almost 14% to $4.92. Investors have been buying the toll road operator's shares after it received a takeover offer. The company revealed that IFM has made an unsolicited offer at $4.75 per share in cash. However, it has also "indicated that the price will be increased to A$5.10 per security if the bidder's relevant interest in Atlas Arteria securities is 45% or more prior to the close of the Offer." Outside that, this is IFM's best and final offer. Atlas Arteria advised that it will consider and evaluate the offer and will update shareholders in due course.

Forrestania Resources Ltd (ASX: FRS)

The Forrestania Resources share price is up 2.5% to 51.7 cents. This has been driven by the release of drilling results for the gold explorer's British Hill, Mt Palmer and Johnson Range projects. The good news is that high-grade gold results were returned across all projects. Forrestania Resources' chair, David Geraghty, commented: "These encouraging results are improving our understanding of the geology and metallurgy across each project and support the next phase of drilling, as we move with intent to increase the size and potential of the British Hill, Johnson Range and Mt Palmer Mineral Resource Estimates."

Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1)

The Megaport share price is up over 6% to $9.46. This morning, this network solutions company revealed that it has secured a three-year compute and storage contract with a total value of approximately US$25.1 million (A$35.4 million). Megaport's CEO, Michael Reid, said: "Securing a contract of this size reflects both the scale of the opportunities we see in the compute market, and our disciplined approach to deploying capital. We will continue to evaluate similar opportunities, investing alongside committed customer demand at compelling paybacks, ensuring capital is deployed after rigorous analysis while supporting the long-term growth of these markets."

WA1 Resources Ltd (ASX: WA1)

The WA1 Resources share price is up almost 7% to $16.17. This follows the release of the niobium developer's quarterly update. That update revealed that the company ended the period with a cash balance of $131 million. It also confirmed that all data inputs have been received for a mineral resources estimate update that is expected in the June quarter.

The post Why Atlas Arteria, Forrestania, Megaport, and WA1 shares are charging higher today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Businesses with smaller market capitalisations could be compelling businesses to look at because they may have longer-term growth potential and the market hasn't priced in their long-term potential.

Fund managers from Wilson Asset Management (WAM) have picked out two businesses from the WAM Active Ltd (ASX: WAA) portfolio that could deliver good returns.

EchoIQ Ltd (ASX: EIQ)

WAM describes Echo IQ as an Australian medical technology company focused on improving decision-making in cardiology by using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect structural heart disease from echocardiograms.

The fund manager noted that the company received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for severe aortic stenosis, with additional FDA clearance for heart failure detection expected in the near term.

WAM pointed out that the EchoIQ share price rose by 47% in March after an announcement of an expanded resale and distribution agreement with the Mayo Clinic for EchoSolv HF. The fund manager said that the agreement provides "meaningful clinical validation and materially de-risks the FDA pathway".

The investment team expects further FDA clearance for the ASX share in the coming weeks, which would significantly expand EchoIQ's US addressable market and support early revenue generation.

WAM concluded:

We believe additional hospital signings and strategic partnership discussions with multiple Australian and US-based parties remain key near-term catalysts for further share price re-ratings.

Forrestania Resources Ltd (ASX: FRS)

The other ASX share that WAM highlighted from the WAM Active portfolio was Forrestania Resources, a Perth-based mineral exploration company targeting gold, lithium, nickel, and copper deposits, primarily in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields, Forrestania, and Southern Cross greenstone belts.

WAM noted that the Forrestania Resources share price declined in March amid a 10% decline for the gold price.

The wider mining sector saw weakness during the month amid forced liquidations and broader macroeconomic volatility, including rising Treasury yields and a stronger Australian dollar.

WAM said it still owns this ASX share in its portfolio because it views recent events as "macro-driven dislocations, rather than a deterioration" of its investment thesis.

The fund manager decided to increase its stake in the ASX share during the March sell-off.

WAM's investment team concluded its thoughts on the business with the following:

Forrestania Resources remains a compelling, undiscovered gold opportunity on the ASX, led by David Geraghty, who spent 21 years at Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: MIN) and played a key role in its success. With minimal institutional coverage and broker sponsorship, we see potential for a share price re-rating as near-term catalysts emerge.

The post 2 undervalued ASX shares to buy that experts think could deliver strong returns appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.