TAKEOVERS: Of Gold Mines And Jacuzzis

The setting was an unlikely place to announce the largest corporate takeover in Britain. Employees of Consolidated Gold Fields, the world’s second largest gold producer, had gathered last week at the London Zoo for a dinner party to celebrate the company’s rebuff in May of a hostile takeover bid by South African-controlled Minorco. Not until the meal was over did ConsGold Chairman Rudolph Agnew inform his troops that the company’s board had accepted a $5.5 billion takeover bid from Hanson PLC, the $12.5 billion British group whose holdings include Jacuzzi and Farberware.

Lord Hanson, the company’s chairman, and Sir Gordon White, head of U.S. operations, have built their empire by acquiring assets at bargain prices and then selling off pieces to pay down their debts. As a result, the 102-year-old ConsGold, which owns 49% of Newmont Mining, the largest gold producer in the U.S., is likely to be split up. Some of its divisions may wind up in the hands of the company’s first suitor, Minorco.