Augusta asks shareholders to reject HudBay's buyout offer

Feb 24 (Reuters) - Canadian exploration company Augusta Resource Corp AZC.TO AZC.N has asked its shareholders to reject base metal miner HudBay Minerals Inc's HBM.TO hostile offer to buy all the shares in Augusta it does not own.

"The unsolicited offer is grossly inadequate and does not come close to recognizing the full and fair value of Augusta and the world-class Rosemont project," Augusta Executive Chairman Richard Warke said in a statement on Monday. News Search ID:nPn4bM5SJ

HudBay, which currently owns about 16 percent of Augusta's outstanding shares, said earlier in the month that the enterprise value of the all-stock deal could be about C$540 million ($485 million).

($1 = 1.11 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Ashutosh Pandey in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Das)

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Keywords: AUGUSTA HUDBAY/OFFER