Ventana Gold accepts higher bid from Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista
14th Feb 2011, 10:13 am by Ian Mclelland
Ventana shareholders will receive $13.06 per share in cash
Ventana Gold (TSX:VEN)
Has succumbed to a higher offer from its largest shareholder, Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista. Batista’s acquisition vehicle, AUX Canada Acquisition Inc., announced only last week that it would not increase its initial bid of CAD
$12.63 per share, however the two sides appeared to close the gap over the weekend.
This morning Ventana confirmed has accepted an increased offer of
$13.06 per share in cash. Batista already
controls around 20% of the company’s equity, so there is little possibility of a third party entering the fray. Shares in Ventana, which controls a swathe of exploration acreage in Colombia, rose nearly 5% to $12.89 per share on the news.
Ventana’s key asset within its exploration ground is the La Bodega project, a gold-silver-copper discovery with an inferred resource of 27 million tonnes grading 3.9 grams per tonne gold, 21.5 grams per tonne silver and 0.14% copper (
3.5 million ounces of gold,
19 million ounces of silver and north of
84 million pounds of
copper).
Today’s bid from AUX values Ventana Gold at approximately
$1.5 billion, and represents a 33% premium to the company’s 20 day volume weighted average trading price since November 16, the day before the initial bid was announced.
The transaction also underlines the continuing appetite for advanced exploration assets with potential to become large, long life assets.