Penmont sweetens takeover offer for Canplats
Last Updated: Monday, December 28, 2009 | 9:29 AM ET
CBC News
Junior gold and silver mining company Canplats Resources Corp. says it has received a "superior proposal" from Minera Penmont Inc. that tops an earlier takeover bid from Goldcorp.
Late Sunday, Penmont boosted its offer for Vancouver-based Canplats by 40 cents a share to $4.80 — $4.60 in cash and shares of a new exploration company worth 20 cents.
The new offer is worth $277 million and tops a Christmas Eve offer from Goldcorp that was worth $254 million.
Goldcorp has until Jan. 5 to respond with a higher offer. If it doesn't, Canplats' board says it will accept the Penmont bid and will pay Goldcorp a break fee of $9.3 million.
Canplats' exploration focus is a new gold and polymetallic discovery 50 kilometres from Goldcorp's Penasquito mine in Mexico's Zacatecas state.
Its Camino Rojo project has measured and indicated resources of 3.44 million ounces of gold and 60.7 million ounces of silver.
Canplats trades on the TSX Venture Exchange. Its shares closed Friday at $4.96 — a price that is higher than the latest takeover offer. The market clearly thinks the bidding war for Canplats is not over.
