Osisko CEO Sean Roosen, pictured, was praised by Goldcorp boss Chuck Jeannes. ‘My hat’s off to him,’ Mr. Jeannes said. ‘Sean did a really good job.’Arantxa Cedillo / Veras/The Globe and Mail
Goldcorp Inc.'s chief executive officer extended an olive branch to Osisko Mining Corp., saying on Thursday that his rival did a good job finding other companies to block his hostile bid.
Osisko CEO Sean Roosen persuaded two mid-sized Canadian miners to pay about $1.3-billion more than Goldcorp's initial unsolicited stock and cash offer of $2.6-billion.
Mr. Roosen had repeatedly said Osisko's Canadian Malartic mine in Quebec was worth more than what Goldcorp was proposing and set out to find alternate suitors.
The process sent Osisko stock up 50 per cent to above $7.80 per share from the time Goldcorp launched its first bid mid-January.
"My hat's off to him," Goldcorp's CEO Chuck Jeannes said in an interview. "Sean did a really good job," he said.
Mr. Jeannes' compliments to Mr. Roosen comes after a pitched battle between the gold miners, which included Osisko suing Goldcorp for allegedly breaching a confidentiality agreement.
Now Canadian Malartic, a mine with more than nine million ounces of gold reserves, will be split between Yamana Gold Inc. and Agnico Eagle Gold Inc.
Vancouver-based Goldcorp had sweetened its bid to $3.6-billion after Osisko struck an initial deal with Yamana and two Canadian pension funds.
But when Osisko came back with a $3.9-billion bid from Yamana and Agnico and then tacked on a nearly $200-million breakup fee that would have been paid to his two new suitors, Goldcorp backed down.
"It was the price that we thought we would have to pay to be successful," he said. "It was too high to have any kind of financial return."
Mr. Jeannes, whose interest in Osisko dates back to 2008, said of course he was disappointed to lose, but reiterated that his company has always said it was going to be disciplined.
Now that Goldcorp has shown that it has the financial capacity to make a $3-billion-plus bid, speculation has risen over the company's next target.
Mr. Jeannes had no comment when asked if he was interested in Detour Gold, which operates a large gold mine in Ontario.
"We don't have anything on the table right now. But we're always looking to improve our company," Mr Jeannes said.