Newcrest Mining Ltd. on Tuesday said it has received a sweetened takeover proposal from Newmont Corp. that gives Australia’s largest listed gold miner an enterprise value of 32.0 billion Australian dollars (US$21.3 billion).
Under the revised proposal, shareholders in Melbourne-based Newcrest would receive 0.400 Newmont share for each Newcrest share they hold. That compares to a Feb. 5 all-stock proposal at a price of 0.380 Newmont share for each Newcrest share, which the Australian miner rejected as too low.
Also, the latest bid allows Newcrest to pay a special dividend of up to US$1.10 per share.
Newcrest said it has agreed to allow Newmont to conduct the necessary due diligence to draw up a binding proposal.