The revised offer matches the price offered by Shandong Gold Mining (HongKong) to the Australian gold mining company in September 2020
Nordgold has increased its takeover price of Cardinal Resources to AUD1 ($0.71) per share.(Credit: aymane jdidi from Pixabay)
Nord Gold (Nordgold) has sweetened the price of its on-market takeover offer for Australia-based gold miner Cardinal Resources to AUD1 ($0.71) per share.
Currently, the UK-based gold miner is the largest shareholder in Cardinal Resources with a stake of around 28%.
Nordgold’s revised offer matches the price offered by Shandong Gold Mining (HongKong) to the Australian gold mining company in September 2020. Cardinal Resources’ board at that time recommended the $408m offer to the company’s shareholders.
Last week, Shandong Gold declared that its offer of AUD1 ($0.71) per share in cash is its best and final price in the absence of a higher competing offer.
Prior to this, Nordgold offered a price of AUD0.9 ($0.64) per share in cash for the Australian miner.
Nordgold said that its revised offer is unconditional, and that it is open for eleven days, which is past the current scheduled closing date for Shandong Gold’s offer.
The Australian miner reacted to Nordgold’s revised offer by stating: “Cardinal is currently considering the implications of the increased Nordgold Takeover Bid in consultation with its advisors and having regard to the provisions of the Bid Implementation Agreement with Shandong Gold.
“Shareholders are advised to TAKE NO ACTION at this time.”
Since the last few months, the UK-based gold miner and Shandong Gold have been looking to outbid each other for the takeover of Cardinal Resources.
Cardinal Resources has been looking to develop the Namdini project in Ghana
With a focus on gold exploration and development in West Africa, Cardinal Resources has been looking to move ahead with its fully-permitted Namdini Project in Ghana.
The Namdini project has proved and probable ore reserve of 5.1Moz.
Nordgold CEO Nikolai Zelenski said: “Nordgold is fully committed to successfully closing its offer and to the future success of the Namdini project. We are Cardinal’s largest shareholder and this revision represents the third price increase that Nordgold has made, whilst conversely Shandong has announced that it will not be increasing its price further.
“We continue to believe we are the best owner of this important asset. We have a strong West African business and remain committed to operating in the region.”
Zelenski added that the UK-based company has the project development expertise and strong balance sheet to ensure the construction and commissioning of the Namdini project to be successful.
The CEO of Nordgold also said that the company will help the Australian firm in quickly progressing the Ghanaian project even if it fails to take full ownership of the latter.