Absorb This: GoldenStar buying Iamgold, skipping Wheaton merger
Sic transit "Axion Gold"??? ...(the proposed new name of a merged Iamgold (IAG, or IMG.TO) and Wheaton River (WHT, WRM.TO))
Now Golden Star (GSS, or GSC.TO) in cahoots with Coeur d'Alene Mining (CDE) wants to buy Iamgold and break the announced merger between Iamgold and Wheaton River. Golden Star will take Iamgold while Coeur d'Alene gets Wheaton. Wheaton River is a non-West-Africa global miner with a lot of silver as well as gold; the merger with Iamgold was unpopular to many anyway.
I wonder if it's all part of a secret grand scheme for Newmont (NEM) to gobble West Africa's choicest golden fruits other than Ashanti (now AU). Let's see, ... Golden Star + Iamgold + Birim (BGI.TO) + St. Jude (SJD.TO) + Red Back (RBI.V) + Adamus + African Gold (AGG.TO) ......
The following has been followed by various corrections in a flurry of announcements:
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Myra P. Saefong, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 7:22 PM ET May 27, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Coeur d'Alene Mines said late Thursday that it wants to buy Wheaton River Minerals Ltd. in a stock, cash, and debt deal valued at about $1.8 billion.
The move sets up potentially complicated merger negotiations that could involve as many four companies.
Coeur d'Alene's offer would be subject to the termination of the existing agreement between Wheaton and Iamgold Corp. (IAG: news, chart, profile) (CA:IMG: news, chart, profile), Coeur d'Alene said.
The boards of directors for Wheaton and Iamgold approved an agreement in March for Iamgold to buy Wheaton in an all-stock deal. Shareholders are scheduled to vote on the offer on June 8.
Added to the mix Golden Star Resources Ltd. (GSS: news, chart, profile) (CA:GSC: news, chart, profile), which said late Thursday that it's offered to buy Iamgold through a share-for-share deal.
Golden Star said it would give Iamgold 1.15 Gold Star common shares for each Iamgold common share -- a premium of 13 percent to Iamgold shareholders based on Thursday's closing prices for the stocks on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The deal's value, based on the TSE closing prices, is about $883 million ($1.21 billion Canadian).
Golden Star said in a statement it has an agreement with Coeur d'Alene whereby Coeur d'Alene will pay Golden Star $26 million if Golden Star's deal for Iamgold, and Coeur d'Alene's offer for Wheaton both succeed.
Coeur d'Alene's offer for Vancouver-based Wheaton (WHT: news, chart, profile), which equates to around $3.28 per share, includes $1.9 billion in equity, $133 million in assumed debt, less $174 million in cash, Idaho-based Coeur d'Alene (CDE: news, chart, profile) said.
That's a 14 percent premium to Wheaton's Thursday closing price and a 25 percent premium over its 20-day average, according to Coeur d'Alene.
"Our combination creates the fourth-largest North American precious metals company, increases Coeur d'Alene's primary silver production by 45 percent, and creates a top 10 global gold producer with among the lowest cash costs of production in the industry," Dennis Wheeler, Coeur d'Alene's chief executive, said in a statement.
Wheeler made the proposal on behalf of Coeur d'Alene in a letter sent to Ian Telfer, Wheaton's chief executive, on Thursday.
Shares of Coeur d'Alene closed at $5.06, up 3 cents, Wheaton's stock closed up 6 cents at $2.92, and Iamgold's shares rose 9 cents to close at $5.43.
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