The world's largest goldminer has upped its tentative takeover offer for Australia's biggest player in the space.
Newmont's all-scrip bid now values Newcrest at $32 billion, Newcrest said on Tuesday.
Its earlier bid had valued the company at $24 billion, but Newcrest said it had provided Newmont with non-public information that prompted the company to improve its offer.
Newcrest shareholders would receive 0.4 Newmont shares for each NCM share they own, and the goldminer would be allowed to pay a $US1.10 per share franked special dividend at the time the scheme is implemented.
At current exchange rates and based on Newmont's last share price, the offer works out to $A32.87 per Newcrest share, a 41.2 per cent premium over its average price before Newmont approached in February.
Newcrest shares were up 4.7 per cent to $29.58 at 11.52am AEDT on Tuesday.
The parties are now engaged in exclusive due diligence on each other, with an eye towards Newmont extending a binding offer to Newcrest in about four weeks.
Headquartered in Melbourne, Newcrest is an ASX20 company that operates the Cadia goldmine in Orange, NSW; the Telfer mine in Western Australia; along with two mines in Papua New Guinea and two mines in Canada.
Denver-headquartered Newmont owns goldmines in North and South America, Ghana and two in Australia: the Tanami mine in the Northern Territory, and Boddington in WA, one of Australia's biggest goldmines.
Its shares currently trade on the New York Stock Exchange and will also be listed on the ASX via a Chess Depository Interest listing if the deal goes through.
