LONDON (Reuters) - Endeavour Mining Corporation (TO:EDV) and Centamin (L:CEY) have agreed to assess the feasibility of a merger, following a meeting between Endeavour's CEO and Centamin's chairman, Endeavour said on Monday.
The gold industry has seen a flurry of deals over the last year as companies attempt to squeeze more value from operations after years of subdued activity and low returns.
Centamin at the start of this month rejected a 1.47 billion pound all-stock takeover proposal from Canada's Endeavour, saying it did not offer enough value to Centamin shareholders.
The CEO of Endeavour and the Chairman of Centamin met in Perth, Australia, on Saturday and agreed to a reciprocal due diligence exercise.
"The objective...would be to allow both companies to further understand each other’s assets," Endeavour said in a statement.
It would be "a critical precursor" to determining whether a deal could be agreed that was in the best interests of both companies’ shareholders.
Centamin's shares were trading 2.38% higher by 0811 GMT. The company was not immediately available to comment.
Under English takeover law, Endeavour has a deadline of the end of the month to make a firm bid.
Given the time that has already passed and the need to carry out proper due diligence, Endeavour has asked Centamin to ask the Takeover Panel for extra time.
Centamin has "not yet done this and there can be no certainty that they will," the statement said.