Cardinal gives Shandong Gold’s upgraded takeover offer the nod

Shandong Gold’s latest offer price of $1 per Cardinal share, which values the company at $565.6 million, has trumped Nordgold’s $0.90 offer with an 11 per cent premium.

Shandong Gold will acquire all of the Cardinal shares owned by the company’s directors, who hold a collective interest of around 6 per cent in the target company.

The proposed acquisition will only proceed with a 50.1 per cent minimum acceptance by Cardinal shareholders, but is no longer subject to Chinese regulatory approvals.

“The Cardinal board has no reason to believe that the remaining conditions of the Shandong Gold offer cannot be satisfied within a reasonable timeframe based on the information available to it,” Cardinal stated in its first supplementary target’s statement.

The West African exploration company holds interests in tenements within Ghana. It is focussed on developing the Namdini gold project, which boasts an ore reserve of 5.1 million ounces.

Nordgold increased its interest in Cardinal from around 19.8 per cent to 28.5 per cent earlier this month.