THE ranks of Australian-listed gold producers is set to shrink again. Andean Resources has become the subject of two takeover bids from Canadian gold companies, with the highest bid valuing it at $C3.6 billion ($A3.75 billion).
Andean shareholders should be a happy bunch after the ASX-listed Argentinian gold developer rocketed 31 per cent to $6.40 before it went into a trading halt.
But some are also angry after selling at the day's low of $4.94, before the first of the bids was announced to the ASX and before Andean shares moved into a trading halt as it flagged the emergence of the second bid - all of which happened within a matter of hours.
The ASX said yesterday it was ''looking very closely at the timeline of the events and what was put on the company announcements platform, and when'', ''and who knew what and when''. The spokesman added that this was something the ASX would do as a matter of course.
The first bid was a scrip offer from Eldorado that valued Andean at $C6.36 a share. The second, and agreed, offer was from Goldcorp, which is either shares or $C6.50 a share (up to $C1 billion), valuing Andean at $C3.6 billion.
Eldorado gave the regulators something to ponder with the revelation that it had put a proposal to Andean Resources on August 18, which was informally rejected on August 30.
The ASX has queried Andean twice in the past month (August 13 and August 30) on its rising share price. On both occasions Andean pointed to general upwards movements in gold equities without - at least in the August 30 response - mentioning the interest from Eldorado.
Now that it is in play, Andean is set to disappear from the ASX lists, where it was ranked as the second-biggest gold group behind $18.7 billion Newcrest.
Newcrest formally completed its takeover of the previously second-ranked gold stock Lihir on Monday.
Andean's attraction is its wholly owned Cerro Negro gold project in the Santa Cruz province of Argentina. Cerro Negro at present ranks as a 2.54-million-ounce gold and 23.56-million-ounce silver resource, with high-grade exploration upside.
The Goldcorp bid has the support of Andean, subject to there being no superior proposal and an independent expert finding it is in the best interests of shareholders.
Andean's biggest shareholder, private equity investment group Sentient, with 21 per cent of the company, has agreed to a call-option agreement with Goldcorp covering 19.9 per cent of the company.
A bidding duel between the Canadian pair is expected.
