Simon Lawson’s $15m bonzana as Ramelius Resources deal for Spartan Resources gets WA Supreme Court’s seal

The man who goaded the eventual acquirer of his hotshot gold explorer has formally locked in a stock windfall and redundancy payment currently worth more than $15 million. The Supreme Court of Western Australia on Monday rubber-stamped Ramelius Resources’ $2.5 billion cash and share deal to absorb Spartan Resources. Spartan’s stock ceases trading on the Australian Securities exchange on Tuesday. Its shares finished Monday’s trade at $1.96. One of the biggest winners of the transaction is Spartan’s executive chairman Simon Lawson, who spearheaded the company’s rise from the ashes of Gascyone Resources. Spartan’s shares were worth 10¢ in March 2023 before high-grade gold hits from the Never Never deposit near its idle Dalgaranga processing mill in the Murchison region started to surface and rumours of a Ramelius takeover then began to swirl. The Supreme Court’s approval means Mr Lawson’s 7.7 million of Spartan performance rights are converted into stock, worth approximately $15m at current prices. He is also reaping $438,269 in cash, inclusive of superannuation, for his executive chairman role being made redundant in the new-look Ramelius. Mr Lawson is still being paid $135,000 per year to hang around as a non-executive director. He sold about 4 million Spartan shares for $7.3m in April “to meet personal tax payment obligations” and for “a re-organisation of financial affairs following a recent change in family circumstances”. This sale came less than a month after Ramelius and Spartan shook hands to combine — a merger many had predicted would happen, despite some spicy moments along the way. Ramelius snapped up a 17.9 per cent stake in Spartan in June last year, which fuelled a share price surge in anticipation of a blockbuster takeover bid. Just a few weeks later, Mr Lawson said Spartan’s runaway share price meant Ramelius would financially struggle to reel in his company, yet claimed the pursuer’s chief — Mark Zeptner — found himself “in a jam” with little choice but to cast a line for Spartan. “I’ve got a lot of respect for Mark. He’s done a lot of good deals, but I think he’s got himself in a bit of a jam, to be honest, because he’s got a couple operations that don’t have a mill,” Mr Lawson said at the time. “I think the solution that he had in mind is not really panning out.” Mr Zeptner soon responded to his frenemy’s jab, claiming Spartan was a want — not a need — for the gold miner. “I won’t comment on other people’s opinion of our (financial) firepower . . . whilst we’d like to have Never Never in our portfolio, we actually look at it as a nice to have, rather than a need to have,” Mr Zeptner said at the time.