Ghana’s Ashanti Goldfields on Monday confirmed that it had received a proposal from Randgold Resources, 45% held by Randgold & Exploration, to acquire its issued share capital.
The world’s second largest gold miner AngloGold is also looking to merge with Ashanti.
Randgold’s offer is for a scheme of arrangement at a proposed ratio of one Randgold ordinary share for every two Ashanti ordinary shares.
This indicative proposal is conditional on, amongst other things, mutual due diligence by the two companies.
“These preliminary discussions are at an early stage and may or may not lead to a formal proposal being made or an agreement being reached,” Ashanti said.
At the close of the Nasdaq on Friday, Randgold’s share price of $20,20 valued Ashanti at $10,10 a share or $1,138-billion — a premium of 10% over AngloGold’s offer of $9,198 per Ashanti share ($1,035-billion) for the whole of Ashanti. – I-Net Bridge