Panama President sees no immediate risk from First Quantum mine
Jose Raul Mulino said a government report shows there are no immediate environmental or safety risks from Cobre Panama.
Lundin Mining has rejected the hostile takeover bid mounted last month by Australia-based Equinox Minerals. Canadian Press reported Sunday that Lundin told its shareholders to reject a debt-financed takeover bid from Equinox, saying the unsolicited offer was “financially inadequate” and fraught with risks:
Vancouver-based Lundin (TSX:LUN) said the Equinox (TSX: EQN) bid undervalued the company and would place considerable influence over business decisions in the hands of lenders.
Equinox had offered Lundin shareholders $8.10 per share in cash or 1.2903 Equinox shares plus a penny for each Lundin share. The amount of cash in the deal announced on Feb. 28 was limited to $2.4 billion, while the number of shares offered was capped at 380 million.
Lundin’s rejection comes as its shareholders prepare to vote on a friendly merger with Inmet Mining(TSX:IMN). That proposed deal would create a new base-metals company called Symterra, which would have no debt, meaning shareholders and not lenders would reap the payoffs.
Lundin’s rejection of the Equinox bid expressed several concerns over the ability of a merged company to grow and produce positive results while repaying significant debt.
“The offer has such extensive conditions that even if the amount of the offer was not so financially inadequate, the board would not recommend that shareholders accept the offer because we have no confidence that it would ever close,” company chairman Lukas Lundin said in a statement released Sunday.
