Newcrest CEO Says Ball Is in Newmont’s Camp in Takeover Talks

Australian gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd. is “worth a lot more” than the approximately $17 billion takeover bid made by US rival Newmont Corp., according to the company’s interim chief executive officer.

(Bloomberg) — Australian gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd. is “worth a lot more” than the approximately $17 billion takeover bid made by US rival Newmont Corp., according to the company’s interim chief executive officer.

“The company is not up for sale and this was unsolicited,” Sherry Duhe said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “We have offered Newmont limited conversations to share a bit more about where we see value in the portfolio and so obviously that’s with them now to see if they’d like to decide to engage.”

Newcrest earlier on Thursday said it rejected the bid by Newmont announced earlier this month but indicated that it is prepared to provide access to limited, non-public information on a non-exclusive basis. 

The company gets about a quarter of its revenue from copper, but the central role of the metal in the transition to net-zero emissions may see that rise above 50% by the end of the decade, depending on prices, Duhe said.

“Copper in particular in the portfolio is something that I would assume makes us very attractive to many people out there,” she said. The future for the metal is “very bright.” 

Read more: Newcrest Offers Newmont Hope After Rejecting $17 Billion Offer

–With assistance from James Fernyhough.

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