Equinox Minerals bids $4.9-bn for Lundin Mining

Sparking a possible bidding battle for another Canada-based base metal resources company Lundin Mining Corporation, Africa-focused copper miner Equinox Minerals Ltd yesterday launched a hostile takeover bid for Lundin for approximately C$4.8 billion ($4.9 billion) in a cash-and-stock deal.

The trumping offer from Equinox, a mining company dual-listed in Australia and Canada, came about six weeks after Lundin agreed for a 'merger of equals' with fellow copper miner Inmet Mining to create a C$9-billion copper company Symterra Corp through and all-stock transaction.(See: Canadian copper producers Lundin and Inmet in a $9.1bn merger deal)  

Equinox proposes to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Lundin, valuing the miner at C$8.10 per share. The offer price represents a 26-per cent premium over the closing price of C$6.45 per Lundin share in Toronto on 25 February.

Each Lundin shareholder can receive either C$8.10 in cash or 1.2903 Equinox share plus C$0.01 for each Lundin share, subject to a maximum cash consideration of approximately C$2.4 billion and maximum Equinox shares issued of approximately 380 million.

Equinox president and chief executive officer Craig Williams said: ''This offer is clearly superior to the nil-premium merger proposed between Lundin and Inmet.'' 

''We also believe that our offer presents an attractive option for Lundin shareholders to elect to receive cash or retain exposure to what we believe would be one of the strongest and lowest risk production and growth profiles in the copper sector today,'' Williams further stated.