Harmony Extended Takeover Bid

The takeover offer of South African gold mining company Harmony Gold to domestic rival Golf Fields is to expire next Monday, January 31, according to SA Securities Regulation Code.

Under the Code, if the condition of 50 percent share acceptances has not been met in 60 days, Harmony Gold has to apply for an extension to the conditional offer.Harmony has applied for an extension of this conditional offer, according to the Securities Regulation Panel, and further 21 days are added to the 60-day cut-off.

Last Friday, Harmony announced that it had extended its offer to March 18 2005. In a Harmony statement released on PRNewswire on Tuesday the company said it reserves the right to waive the acceptance condition of its offer in its entirety on Monday, January 31, 2005, in accordance with the Code.