Phil Edmonds, the former England cricketer, bowled the opening delivery of what could be one of the year’s fiercest takeover battles yesterday by unveiling a £720 million bid for a mining rival in Africa.

Central African Mining and Exploration (Camec), the venture run by Mr Edmonds and Andrew Groves, his business partner, tabled a formal all-share offer for the Canadian-owned Katanga Mining.

A successful takeover would create a £1.2 billion business controlling a quarter of the world’s supply of cobalt, a metal used in rechargeable batteries. The company would also be one of the largest producers of copper in a country with huge reserves.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is seen as one of the last unexplored frontiers for the mining industry’s big guns such as BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Anglo American.

Camec said yesterday that it already spoke for 54 per cent of Katanga, given the 22 per cent stake that it owns and support from investors who hold a further 32 per cent.

It added that the combined business would be quoted on both London’s main market and the Toronto Stock Exchange if its bid succeeded.

However, the move sparked a fierce response from Arthur Ditto, the Katanga chief executive, who has mounted a desperate defence since Camec first revealed that it was considering a bid three months ago. Mr Ditto said: “It’s certainly not interesting to me, and it is hard to perceive it as being of much interest to Katanga shareholders who aren’t somehow tied to Camec.”

Mr Edmonds countered: “I don’t quite know what Art is talking about. We have got 22 per cent and soft irrevocables over another 32 per cent. We have put ourselves in the box seat.”

Katanga said that it would give a formal response in two weeks. Camec needs 75 per cent support to effectively take control of Katanga, but industry experts said that the battle could run for the rest of the year.

Mr Edmonds, Camec’s chairman, faces the prospect of fighting off a rival bid, possibly from one of the industry’s biggest names, as well as opposition from Victor Kasongo, Congo’s outspoken vice-minister of mines. Mr Kasongo attacked Camec in May over its links with Billy Rautenbach, the controversial entrepreneur and Camec shareholder.

Mr Rautenbach was barred from Congo last month because of alleged crimes in South Africa, where he is wanted on fraud, corruption and theft charges.

Conspiracy theorists have claimed that much of the opposition is being driven by Dan Gertler, the Israeli diamond merchant who holds significant stakes in Katanga and Nikanor, another London-listed mining group.

Doubts over whether a deal can be done have pushed Camec’s share price down from 76p in July to a close of 47¾p last night, a further 4¼p fall.

Camec moved to clear one hurdle yesterday by calling for a shareholder vote at Katanga to remove a “poison pill” clause that allows Mr Ditto to block stakebuilding by a predator by issuing new shares to other investors. An extraordinary general meeting will not take place until November 2.

Under the terms of the offer, Camec is offering 17 Camec shares for every one held by Katanga investors, valuing its target at C$17.80 per share. Mr Edmonds said that he was “absolutely confident” that other Katanga shareholders would support the deal.

He added: “Timing is everything in life. We took the view prior to setting up Camec that resources had been underinvested in over the previous ten to fifteen years and that Africa had been ignored for various reasons. We have come a long way and we like to think we have been able to identify opportunities before others.”

Times Recommends

• Lenders face huge hit on mortgage fraud
• Mortgage rescue fund at the ready
• Zoom airline collapses and halts all flights