Centamin: Endeavour not sharing information vital for merger

Endeavour Mining is refusing to share information vital to assessing its value until an extension to a deadline for making an offer for Centamin is agreed, London-listed Centamin said on Wednesday.

Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris is the owner of Endeavour Mining Corporation.

Under English takeover law, Canada’s Endeavour has until the end of December to make a firm offer to buy Centamin’s assets.

Endeavour said on Monday the two firms had agreed to assess the feasibility of a merger. Yet, analysts said then that it was obvious that the companies were not yet fully aligned.

Centamin, which called the Canadian miner’s approach an “unsolicited offer”, said both firms had agreed on “a reciprocal exchange of due diligence information” but Endeavour now said it would not provide information unless the deadline was extended.

The London-listed gold miner said in a statement on the merger plans that it was “disappointed that despite its efforts at constructive engagement, Endeavour has repeatedly refused to engage in a proper manner”.

Centamin said its board believed Endeavour should enter into reciprocal due diligence without any delay.

Endeavour did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for a comment.

“Without a tactical shift from one of the two sides, talks are going nowhere for now,” Peel Hunt analysts wrote in a note to Reuters.

Reflecting shareholder unease, Centamin shares fell nearly 3 percent at the open but recouped some of those losses to trade down 1 percent by 08:50 GMT. The stock jumped 15 percent when Endeavour initially revealed its proposal.

Centamin said it would decide on a deadline extension after reviewing any information from Endeavour.