Goldcorp CEO Chuck Jeannes
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The world’s second-largest gold miner by value, Goldcorp, on Monday announced that it would not amend its C$3.6-billion hostile offer to acquire Osisko Mining, signalling the end to an acrimonious bidding war that started in January.
The offer is scheduled to expire on Tuesday at midnight.
"We stated from the beginning of this process that we would remain disciplined with respect to our offer to acquire Osisko, and our decision not to amend the offer is consistent with that commitment," Goldcorp president and CEO Chuck Jeannes said.
Early in January, Goldcorp said that it aimed to lift its gold output by 50% in two years to about four-million ounces, announcing days later a C$2.6-billion bid to buy out Quebec-based gold miner Osisko Mining to gain control of the bountiful Canadian Malartic mine.
However, Osisko maintained from the start that Goldcorp’s offer did not offer shareholders adequate value, and sought alternative deals, which last week resulted in a friendly agreement with Latin America-focused precious metals miner Yamana Gold and Canadian gold miner Agnico Eagle to jointly buy all Osisko's issued and outstanding common shares for C$3.9-billion, or C$8.15 a share.
Osisko’s TSX-listed stock dropped more than C$0.50 a share following Goldcorp’s announcement just after noon, and traded at around C$7.61 apiece in the afternoon session.