World number four gold miner Harmony Gold announced on Wednesday that the United States district court in manhattan, New York had denied a motion for preliminary injunction by rival Gold Fields, which sought to block Harmony’s offer to Gold Fields’ shareholders in the US.
In addition, the court ruled that the evidence submitted failed to support Gold Fields’ claim that Harmony misled Gold Fields’ US shareholders concerning Harmony’s disclosure of its gold reserves in the registration statement filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
“We are pleased but not surprised by this judgement. Gold Fields’ management has embarked upon frustrating and, in our view, frivolous litigation to divert attention and to frustrate the ability of Gold Fields shareholders to assess the merits of Harmony’s offers,” said Harmony chief executive Bernard Swanepoel.
“We were disappointed that Gold Fields reverted to litigating in the US, particularly after the South African courts and regulators ruled against them and confirmed the validity of our offers by rejecting numerous legal and regulatory actions by Gold Fields. Despite Gold Fields’ protestations that it is a champion of the South African cause, they have indicated clearly with this legal challenge in the US, that they have no confidence in South Africa’s regulatory regime. We appreciate that the US courts dealt with their claims on a accelerated basis,” Swanepoel added.
Gold Fields has been unsuccessful in their litigation and Swanepoel said he hoped that they would reconsider the other delaying tactics they had employed so that their shareholders could assess Harmony’s offers for themselves.
Harmony’s early settlement offer is scheduled to close on noon on 26 November, 2004 and is unconditional in all respects.
Harmony urged Gold Fields’ shareholders to accept the offer, Harmony said in a statement. – I-Net Bridge