Monday, April 25, 2011

Barrick (ABX) Beats Chinese Bid, Acquiring Equinox

Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) bid up the price for Equinox Minerals (TSE:EQN) to $7.7 billion, beating out the price offered for the copper miner by China's Minmetals Resources.

In a joint statement the two companies said Barrick "has entered into a support agreement with Equinox Minerals Limited for Barrick to acquire, through an all-cash offer, all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Equinox... by way of a friendly takeover offer."

"The offer is for CAN$8.15 per Equinox share in cash, or a total of approximately $7.3 billion," said Barrick, a 16 percent premium over the Minmentals Resources offer.

Barrick chief executive Aaron Regent said in the statement, "The acquisition of Equinox would add a high-quality, long-life asset to our portfolio and is consistent with our strategy of increasing gold and copper reserves through exploration and acquisitions."

"It does not dilute our shareholders' gold exposure per share, and it enhances copper exposure and leverage per share in a strong copper price environment," he added.

"We believe this offer is superior to the public proposal made by Minmetals in terms of certainty and value," said Craig Williams, CEO of Equinox, whose board of directors "unanimously approved entering into the support agreement." The board also recommended that shareholders accept the offer.

At this time Minmetals has a 4.2 percent stake in Equinox.

Barrick Gold was trading at $52.60, falling $3.03, or 5.45 percent, as of 12:11 PM EDT.

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