Paulson & Co. Inc., a substantial shareholder in Newmont Mining Corp. with 14.2 million shares, said March 21 that it will not support the miner's proposed US$10 billion acquisition of Goldcorp Inc. in its current form.

The hedge fund manager claimed that a significant percentage of the value created by the newly formed Newmont-Barrick Gold Corp. joint venture in Nevada would only benefit Goldcorp shareholders instead of preserving the gains for Newmont shareholders.

In a letter addressed to Newmont CEO Gary Goldberg, Paulson said it was unjustified to reward Goldcorp shareholders for the miner's poor performance with a US$1.5 billion premium, and the current deal is highly dilutive to existing Newmont shareholders.

However, Paulson said it would back a revised deal where Goldcorp shareholders would receive a maximum of 0.254 of a Newmont share per Goldcorp share. Newmont intends to acquire each Goldcorp share for 0.3280 of a Newmont share under the current terms.