Love this Comment...
It comes from Dave Reid, Vice President of Investor Relations @ Trelawney:
Majority of Augen Gold shareholders support hostile takeover, Trelawney reports
As Augen Gold and Trelawney duke it out in heated hostile takeover proceedings, Trelawney says it has brought on side more shareholders in lockup agreements. Augen disagrees.
Posted: Wednesday , 10 Aug 2011
HALIFAX, NS -
Now 57% of Augen Gold (TSX-V: GLD) shareholders support Trelawney Mining and Exploration's (TSX-V: TRR) hostile takeover bid, Trelawney reported Tuesday.
Trelawney said it brought seven percent more shareholders into lockup-up agreements in favour of an all-share takeover offer it first announced July 11, one that Augen's board of directors subsequently rejected. According to Trelawney, minus its own shares in Augen that brings to about 54 percent the proportion of shares falling in the pro-takeover camp .
But Augen, vigorous in fending off Trelawney's bid from day one, was quick to cast doubt on the numbers. While reticent to go into detail, Robin Sundstrom, Augen's strategy and communications manager, told Mineweb that based on its math Trelawney's reported 57 percent support level was inaccurate.
"I can say from our count the tally is wrong."
It was not clear, however, by how much the count was off in Augen's estimation as Sundstrom would not elaborate mid-Tuesday. However, she also stressed that the alleged inaccuracy was no fault of Trelawney's.
"It's not finger pointing," Sundstrom said.
Such a situation - a disjunct on share count but with no apparent fault at play - suggests Augen could be working with more up-to-date shareholder information than Trelawney, though this possibility could not be confirmed.
The bean-count mismatch aside, Trelawney framed the deepening lockup roster as creating momentum that might be difficult for Augen to stop. Being blunt, David Reid, Trelawney vice president of investor relations, said Tuesday that support for the deal - now nearing a two-thirds-in-favour threshold set by Trelawney (but dismissed by Augen) for the takeover to go forward - might ultimately "force them to the table."
That, getting back to the table, was a theme of Reid's. He suggested it was in favour of all concerned - Trelawney, Augen and shareholders - to work out a deal so that "everybody walks away happy," Reid said.
But it might take more than growing shareholder numbers to convince Augen's board to like what Trelawney has so far offered. Augen has argued from the outset of takeover proceedings that Trelawney's bid is opportunistic, undervaluing Augen's core properties that are next door to Trelawney's, and does not meet the terms of its shareholder rights agreement.
In making the bid for Augen - which is 0.066 a Trelawney share for each Augen share - Trelawney is hoping to consolidate its 4.2-million-ounce Cote Lake deposit with nearby properties held by Augen, which contain about a million ounces gold (all in inferred resources).