By Ben Hirschler and Nicholas Kotch
LONDON (Reuters) – Lonmin Plc pitched a second and lower offer for Ashanti Goldfields Co Ltd Monday in a move which analysts said reflected the hedging problems closing in on Africa’s third largest gold producer.
Voicing its surprise, Ghana’s Ashanti said Lonmin had amended its offer to 16 Lonmin shares for every 27 Ashanti shares, down from the previous proposed ratio of 32 to 43.
That values Ashanti at around $665 million, or $5.95 a share, against the previous offer from Lonmin — which already owns 32 percent of Ashanti — worth $7.5 per share.
“It’s a better price for Lonmin shareholders, but obviously if you’re lowering your offer it tends to suggest you think there are some underlying problems,” said one mining analyst at a U.S. investment bank.
Ashanti’s senior spokesman in Accra, James Anaman, said the company was puzzled by the lower offer.
“There is a gap in the valuation that we have to sort out…We are looking at that critically and we have other possibilities alongside this one that we are assessing,” Anaman told Reuters in London by telephone.
AngloGold Ltd, the world’s biggest gold producer, has long coveted Ashanti’s rich gold mines while Barrick Gold Corp is widely seen as interested in the Geita gold project in Tanzania.
