RESULTS from vote!!!!Capital Gold shareholders approve deal with Gammon
* Majority of shareholders back Gammon's $420 mln bid
* Vote ends extended takeover battle with Timmins Gold
(In U.S. dollars)
By David Warner
PHILADELPHIA, April 1 (Reuters) - Shareholders of Capital
Gold approved a $420 million friendly takeover bid from
Gammon Gold on Friday, ending a battle to acquire the
company that has raged more than six months.
Capital Gold said a majority of its shareholders voted in
favor of the deal with Gammon, eschewing a rival bid from
Timmins Gold .
"We think this is the best deal for the shareholders and we
are glad they agreed," Capital Gold Chairman Steve Cooper told
Reuters after the shareholder vote in Philadelphia. The company
did not disclose the percentage of shares voted in favor or
against the deal.
Gammon and Timmins Gold had battled for months to win
control of Capital Gold, which owns the El Chanate mine in
northern Mexico, a region where both Gammon and Timmins already
own operating gold mines.
Capital Gold's board and two proxy advisory firms -- ISS
and Glass Lewis -- had advised shareholders to vote in favor of
the Gammon offer.
Canada's Gammon offered $1.09 plus 0.5209 of a Gammon share
for each Capital share, valuing the U.S. company at about $420
million based on Thursday's close.
The Timmins offer of 2.27 Timmins' shares plus
.25 in
cash for each Capital share, valued the company at roughly $396
million, based on Thursday's close.
The Timmins offer was previously worth more than the Gammon
offer, but Gammon's shares surged after the company announced
strong fourth-quarter results last week.
Timmins' shares were down 1.99 percent in midmorning trade
on Friday in Toronto at C$2.46. Gammon stock was down 2.97
percent at C$9.79.