It is reported that Mr Glenn Mullan chairman & CEO of Canadian Royalties Inc doesn't sound much like a CEO whose company just agreed to friendly takeover offer from a previously hostile suitor.

He wasn't hiding his discontent with the fact that China's Jilin Jien Nickel Industry Co Limited won the Montreal junior mining company's support with an improved all cash takeover bid worth USD 192 million.

He added that "I'm speaking as a shareholder primarily, and I'm very disappointed. As a founder, for me, it's the death of a dream."

The friendly deal brings China's first attempt at a hostile takeover of a Canadian company to a close. Jilin Jien, which has quietly been amassing stakes in a number of Canadian nickel companies, launched a surprise unsolicited bid for Canadian Royalties and its Nunavik nickel project in August.

Canadian Royalties was sideswiped by the financial crisis, which hit just as the company was trying to raise capital to build the USD 500 million Nunavik project in northern Quebec. It had to abandon a planned financing and put Nunavik on care and maintenance last year.

Mr Mullan said that "The financial crisis left deep scars on not just people, but institutions and corporations. Canadian Royalties is probably a metaphor for what happened. We were left badly exposed in the aftermath of that."

Jilin Jien's offer expires on October 27th 2009 and Mr Mullan suggested there is an outside chance that another suitor could emerge or that shareholders could reject the offer. He said that "It's a sad day for Canada in a lot of ways. We saw Inco and Falconbridge disappear through acquisitions. It was very much our ambition to become a Canadian based nickel producer. We were on our way and it's sad to see that that dream has gone. Almost all of Canada's nickel is controlled outside now."

(Sourced from www.theglobeandmail.com)