Newcrest, Newmont progress negotiations

Takeover target Newcrest Mining has granted exclusivity for the due diligence period on Newmont Corporation’s $32 billion offer until next week.

In Newcrest's presentation for the Macquarie Australia Conference in Sydney today, the company detailed that it had granted exclusivity for the due diligence period until midnight May 11.

The ASX-listed gold and copper miner's interim chief executive Sherry Duhe spoke at the annual confrence alongside other executives this week. 

The update came after Denver-based Newmont upped its bid from $24 billion to $32 billion last month after the earlier proposal was rejected by Newcrest’s board.

Under the current bid, Newcrest shareholders would receive 0.4 Newmont shares for each of their own shares in their company and payment of US$1.10 per share franked special dividend share around the time of implementation of the proposed scheme of arrangement.

The $32 billion all-scrip offer correlates to a 46.4 per cent premium on Newcrest’s closing price of $A22.45 per share on February 3.

Newcrest operates the Cadia goldmine in NSW, the Telfer mine in Western Australia and two mines in both Papua New Guinea and Canada.

Newmont owns goldmines in North and South America, Ghana, the Tanami mine in the Northern Territory and the Boddington gold mine in WA, which is one of Australia's biggest goldmines.