TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Toronto-listed junior Benton Capital on Wednesday said it had not yet received a formal written offer from fellow Toronto-listed firm Gold Royalties to acquire all of its outstanding shares.

Under terms of the proposed transaction, which was announced in a statement last week, Gold Royalties sought to acquire Benton through an all-scrip deal that would see Benton shareholders receive 0.133 Gold Royalties shares of for each Benton Capital share.

Benton said despite not having seen a formal offer, its board had unanimously rejected the intended offer and recommended shareholders take no action.

Benton added it thought the intended offer was opportunistic in difficult markets and was nothing more than an attempt by Gold Royalties to finance the company by taking control of Benton's $1.1-million in cash and to liquidate some of Benton’s 42% interest in copper exploration and development firm Coro Mining for cash, to fund operations and acquire royalty interests.

"We believe that our intent to acquire Benton Capital duly serves the stockholders of both companies. We look forward to extending our value-creation activities to Benton Capital's shareholders.

"That process would include the intended monetisation of certain working capital assets for redeployment into new royalty assets, including, but not limited to, Benton Capital's equity position in Coro Mining," Gold Royalties CEO Ryan Kalt said in a statement last week.

Gold Royalties said it would mail the offer to Benton shareholders, and that the offer would be subject to conditions, including receipt of all required regulatory approvals, the termination or waiver of Benton’s shareholder rights plan and not less than two-thirds of Benton’s shares being deposited under the offer.

Coro Mining has various development and exploration properties in Chile and Argentina.

Benton’s TSX-V-listed shares traded at 6 Canadian cents apiece on Wednesday and the company had a market capitalisation of C$4.57-million. Gold Royalties, with its market capitalisation of C$15.5-million, traded at 76 Canadian cents a share on Wednesday on the TSX-V.