Apesar da ASL se encontrar em negociações com a AU para uma fusão, a RANGY aparece agora na corrida para a aquisição da Ashanti. As acções da ASL deverão valorizar com a entrada em cena de um novo interessado.
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Randgold makes offer for Ashanti
Kwaku Sakyi-Addo
Posted Fri, 30 May 2003
South African gold miner Randgold Resources Ltd has made an offer for Ghana-based Ashanti Goldfields, opening a bidding war with its larger rival AngloGold Ltd, officials said on Friday.
A merger between the partly government-owned Ashanti and AngloGold would create the world's biggest gold producer, with combined annual output of 7.6 million ounces. AngloGold has offered 26 of its own shares for every 100 Ashanti shares.
But Ghana's Senior Minister J.H. Mensah, who heads the government's team in charge of the Ashanti talks, told Reuters that Randgold had made an offer after senior company officials visited the former British colony on Thursday.
"Randgold officials were here. I've met with them. They've made a proposal and we're looking at it," he said, adding a deal on the sale of Ashanti was "not weeks away, but days away".
However, Mensah declined to give details of the Randgold proposal and would not say which of the rival bids was favoured by Ghana. The government has a 17 percent stake in Ashanti, including a golden share allowing it to veto any takeover bid.
Analysts said they believed a merger with AngloGold would benefit Ashanti's development more than a tie with the smaller Randgold. They expected the world's second biggest gold producer to come back with a sweetened offer if necessary.
"It depends on the price offered. If AngloGold are serious about Ashanti they would come back with a better offer. I don't think they will walk away from this," said one analyst in South Africa, who declined to be named.
"The merged entity (Randgold and Ashanti) would bring significant benefits to Randgold. It would become a significant gold producer, up to two million ounces," he added.
No problem over golden share
"There are quite a lot of advantages associated with AngloGold given the size of the company and strength of the balance sheet, which I think would be very important for the Ghanaian government to bear in mind," London-based BNP Paribas analyst Charles Kernot said.
Ashanti Goldfields was not immediately available to comment. A spokeswoman for London-listed platinum miner Lonmin Plc, the company's biggest shareholder with 32 percent, said the issue was for Ashanti to consider.
Randgold said this week it was "continually evaluating all significant growth opportunities in the gold industry but it does not disclose details of these investigations or comment on market speculation about industry developments".
By 1405 GMT, Randgold shares were little changed in London, while AngloGold fell 0.87 percent in Johannesburg. Ashanti's American Depositary Receipts in the United States rose 0.13 percent to $7.50.
One potential obstacle in talks has been the question of what would happen to Ghana's golden share in Ashanti if it were to merge fully with AngloGold, but any differences appeared to have been ironed out by Friday.
Under AngloGold's proposal the government would only be able to invoke its golden share for transactions involving the combined company's Ghanaian assets.
"I don't see any problem with the restriction to Ghanaian-held assets. There's no dispute," Mensah said. "It's actually our idea that we cannot exercise the golden share over assets held outside Ghana. But over assets in Ghana we will not compromise."
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