<div id="readability-page-1"><div><p><span>By Nic Stone</span></p><p><span>BHP and Newmont-backed miner SolGold’s board has agreed a sweetened US$1.13bn bid for the company from China’s Jiangxi Copper. Two prior bids were rejected before Jiangxi upsized the deal terms to 28p per share, a 7.1% premium to the stock’s price before the initial takeover bid and an increase from 26p. The SolGold board said it would recommend the deal to shareholders if Jiangxi makes a firm offer by December 26. Jiangxi owns 12.2% of the issued shares of SolGold. </span></p><p><span>Last year, SolGold raised US$750m in project advancement and development funding for its US$1.55bn Cascabel copper and gold project in Ecuador. Citigroup advised on the project financing. The US$750m financing was a gold stream agreement provided in exchange for a percentage of the gold, not the copper, produced by the scheme. Franco-Nevada (Barbados) and Osisko Bermuda provided a US$100m initial deposit over three tranches and a US$650m construction deposit. </span></p><span> </span></div></div>

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<p>Jiangxi Copper has increased its bid to US$1.13bn for SolGold, offering 28p per share, a 7.1% premium. SolGold's board recommends the deal if a firm offer is made by December 26. Jiangxi owns 12.2% of SolGold shares. SolGold previously raised US$750m for its Cascabel project in Ecuador.</p>

Ecuador – Jiangxi ups SolGold bid