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Strategies & Market Trends : Strictly: Drilling II -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: t4texas who wrote (6182)	1/8/2002 12:52:04 PM
From: t4texas	Respond to of 36161

cbs marketwatch article hyping nr cbs.marketwatch.com about halfway down is some rj guys input on nr for today. this fellow saut sounds down on the markets, but ralph block is positive. it sounds like they have the same job at raymond james though.

To: t4texas who wrote (6182)	1/8/2002 6:56:33 PM
From: t4texas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 36161

we will give you more time but not more money. looks like anglogold is thinking they are not going to get this deal done with normandy. biz.scmp.com Wednesday, January 9, 2002 AUSTRALIA AngloGold may offer more time but no more money REUTERS in Sydney AngloGold, locked in a four-month long battle for Australia's Normandy Mining, is still considering an extension of its offer past the closing date but has no intention of raising its bid. Striving to convince Normandy investors of the benefits of the South African group's deal over Denver-based Newmont Mining's higher A$4.2 billion (about HK$17.02 billion) bid, AngloGold chief executive Bobby Godsell yesterday said he could uncover no further value to justify another increase. "From our point of view the offer is scheduled to close on Friday. We technically have the capacity to extend it and we can make that decision on Friday," Mr Godsell said. "I would not advise any investor to bank on an extension." Newmont needs to gain United States regulatory approval, which, according to AngloGold, means it would not be able to pay accepting Normandy shareholders for six to eight weeks. But the US group said a decision by AngloGold to extend the offer would remove one of the central planks of the South African firm's argument, namely that investors should choose its bid if they seek rapid payment. "It obviously takes away and compresses one of their arguments they've been spouting off about in regards to timing," Bruce Hansen, Newmont's chief financial officer said. "I think it is beneficial [to Newmont] if they extend it, I think it's more beneficial if they just give up and go away," he added. Playing down the five cent differential now separating the A$1.85 per share AngloGold offer from the A$1.90 a share Newmont bid as "negligible", Mr Godsell urged investors to consider the profitability, dividend policy and character of the South African deal. "As keen as we are to see Normandy combine with AngloGold, we really emphatically do not want to overpay. "We think we've identified and clearly indicated the areas of additional value. And we've come to the end of the value road," he said. AngloGold envisaged saving more than the A$220 million cost of its last 10 cent sweetener from co-operation with Canada's Barrick Gold on key projects, said Mr Godsell, but the group could not extend any agreement with Barrick until it had Normandy. About a third of the savings could be generated from improving the management structure at the Kalgoorlie Super Pit, whose ownership is split 50:50 between Barrick and Normandy. The remaining savings would be generated through co-operation on the Boddington expansion project in Australia and operations in Tanzania, Mr Godsell said. "In regards to the Normandy assets, we can't make agreements until we have them. In Tanzania, we certainly will be co-operating and we will be co-operating in other parts of the world," Mr Godsell said. Shares in Normandy, whose board has taken out national newspaper advertisements urging shareholders to accept Newmont's offer, closed a cent firmer at A$1.86 in a softer overall market. Both bidders have offered a series of sweeteners to their cash and scrip offers in a bid to grab control of Normandy, whose annual two million ounces of gold would make the winner the largest producer in the world. Executives from the rival groups are in Australia trying to convince investors of the benefits of their respective proposals as the closing date for AngloGold's offer draws near. Mr Godsell questioned Newmont's claim that hedge funds and arbitrageurs who own up to 40 per cent of Normandy's shares were likely to accept the US firm's offer. "In my experience, the hedge funds are solidly on the hedge," he said.