09:47 AM EST - New Gold Inc. : Has entered into an agreement with and Western Goldfields Inc., pursuant to which New Gold will acquire by way of a plan of arrangement all of the outstanding common shares of Western Goldfields in exchange for one New Gold common share and $0.0001 in cash for each common share of Western Goldfields. Upon completion of the Transaction, existing New Gold and Western Goldfields shareholders will own about 58 per cent and 42 per cent of the combined company, respectively. Based on the closing price of New Gold's common shares on the TSX of $2.30 on March 3, 2009, the day prior to announcement of the transaction, this offer represents a premium of 19.2 per cent to the closing price of Western Goldfields shares on the TSX on March 3, 2009 and 20.1 per cent to the 20-day volume weighted average trading price of both companies' shares on the TSX. New Gold Inc.
shares T.NGD are trading down $0.18 at $2.12.
