NP says Iamgold's Euro bid price can't be played with

Iamgold Corp (C:IMG)
Shares Issued 295,645,178
Last Close 11/18/2008 $3.75
Wednesday November 19 2008 - In the News

The National Post reports in its Wednesday edition that Iamgold chief executive officer Joe Conway may want to alter his takeover offer for Euro Resources, but he cannot. The Post's Peter Koven writes the bid expires Friday. On August 29, Iamgold made a hostile $116-million offer to buy Euro. Euro owns a royalty on Iamgold's Rosebel mine, so buying it allows Iamgold to cut its costs. Soon after the bid global stock markets began to collapse, and the bid suddenly looked a lot more generous than it did over the summer. Yet because of bizarre French takeover rules, Iamgold cannot withdraw its bid, or even reduce it, if it so chooses. "In hindsight, you'd always like to offer less," Mr. Conway said. "But the one thing that has gone in our favour is the decline in the euro [versus the U.S. dollar]." He added that it is a "fair and compelling offer, particularly in this market." Euro's board resisted the bid for more than two months. In the end though, Euro decided this week that endorsing it is the right move. The French rules that prevent any changes to a takeover offer form part of an unusual and highly regulated system that has caused Iamgold headaches since the day it decided to go after Euro.

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