P.M. BRIEFING : Hanson Wins Control of Gold Firm
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LONDON — British industrial conglomerate Hanson Plc won control of Consolidated Gold Fields today with a revised $5.6-billion cash offer for the London-based mining giant.
Hanson’s investment bank, N. M. Rothschild, said it had acceptances representing 57.3% of Cons Gold shares, including 29.6% committed by South African-backed Minerals and Resources Corp. after Minorco’s own bid for Cons Gold failed earlier this year.
Cons Gold’s board recommended acceptance of Lord Hanson’s bid after he improved a June 22 offer of $4.8 billion.
The deal ends a protracted battle for control of the West’s second-largest gold-mining company.
Minorco’s cash-and-shares bid, which could have created the West’s biggest mining concern, was denounced by political opponents who saw it as a South African exercise to extend interests abroad.
It finally collapsed in May after a U.S. federal judge dismissed a request by Minorco to lift an injunction blocking its bid for Cons Gold, which lapsed the following day.
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