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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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time
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071789
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07178900.003
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1990-09-17
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BUSINESS, Page 77Business NotesTAKEOVERSOf 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.