Panama Mine Rejects Inmet Offer

Panamanian gold mine operator Petaquilla Minerals has voted to reject Inmet Mining’s revised buyout offer, Petaquilla says. The sweetened bid represents about 25% more than the original CAD112m ($112m) offer Inmet made in September, but the target says it “continues to fail to provide adequate value for Petaquilla shares.” Inmet is offering 0.0118 Inmet common shares and CAD0.001 for each Petaquilla share, or, alternatively up to CAD0.60 in cash or a combination of cash and shares. UBS is advising Petaquilla, and Dundee is advising Inmet. The proposal would contemplate a spinout of Petaquilla’s assets in Spain to Petaquilla holders, allowing them to keep the potential upside of Petaquilla’s only asset outside Panama. Inmet is developing the $6.2bn Cobre Panama copper-gold project, which is adjacent to Petaquilla’s Molejon gold mine.