MINING MARKETS & INVESTMENT NEWS — Royalty twins to buy up own stock

Euro-Nevada Mining (EN-T) and Franco-Nevada Mining (FN-T) have announced plans to repurchase shares with cash.

The two companies advised the Toronto Stock Exchange that they would be making a normal course issuer bid, starting Oct. 13 of this year and ending Oct. 12, 1999.

Under the terms of the bid, the companies may buy up to 5% of their stock on the open market. Euro-Nevada’s bid would cover up to 4.8 million shares, and Franco-Nevada’s, up to 4 million.

Franco and Euro’s management believes the shares of the two companies are trading at prices significantly less than their underlying value, and that an issuer bid would be to the companies’ advantage.

The bid comes shortly after the two companies, partners at the Midas joint venture in northern Nevada, agreed to buy the adjacent interests of Romarco Minerals (R-T) for $33 million in stock, including 620,000 shares of Euro-Nevada and 480,000 shares of Franco-Nevada.