Agnico-Eagle snags rest of Comaplex (RTGAM)

Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. is set to acquire all of the shares of Comaplex Minerals Corp. it doesn't already own in a deal worth $739-million.

Comaplex owns a 100 per cent interest in the advanced stage Meliadine gold project in Nunavut, which is approximately 300 kilometres from Agnico-Eagle's producing Meadowbank gold mine.

“Upon completion of the proposed transaction, the addition of the large, high-grade Meliadine property is consistent with our steady, focused approach to per share growth,” said Sean Boyd, vice-chairman and chief executive officer of Agnico-Eagle.

“Our operating focus remains on the optimization of our newly built gold mines and on completing several internal expansion studies that are currently under way.

George Fink, president and CEO of Comaplex, said he was pleased to enter into the arrangement with Agnico-Eagle, “although it is difficult to relinquish the interest in the Meliadine property after all these years.”

Under the terms of the transaction, each shareholder of Comaplex, other than Agnico-Eagle and Perfora Investments S.a.r.l., which already own a portion of the miner, will receive one common share of a newly formed subsidiary of Comaplex.

Each Comaplex shareholder, other than Agnico-Eagle and Perfora, will receive $10.32 per Comaplex share.

Agnico says that represents a premium of 34 per cent over the 20-day average price of Comaplex shares, which were trading at $8 Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Agnico-Eagle says it is abandoning legal proceedings against Comaplex and Perfora before the Ontario and Alberta securities commissions.

Comaplex has agreed to pay Agnico-Eagle a termination fee of $20-million if it breaks the deal.

Agnico-Eagle is a Canadian gold producer with operations in Canada, Finland, Mexico and the United States. Its LaRonde Mine is Canada's largest operating gold mine in terms of reserves.

Comaplex's main asset is the Meliadine gold property.