Gold Reef Resorts on Friday denied ever receiving an offer from Tsogo Sun Group.

Responding to media reports regarding an alleged 34.50 rand per share buyout offer from Tsogo which it allegedly rejected, Gold Reef, which has accepted an offer of 34 rand per share from a private equity consortium led by Ethos Private Equity, said that a comprehensive formal process had been conducted by the board for the "purpose of soliciting the highest offer for Gold Reef".

"At no stage during this process did the Board receive an offer of R34.50 from Tsogo for Gold Reef.

"At no stage during the process did the Board receive a firm intention to make an offer from Tsogo for Gold Reef," it stated.

It added that Tsogo had also not tabled a competing offer at or before the scheme meeting which was held for shareholders to consider the Scheme of Arrangement between Fluxrab Investments No 159 (Proprietary) Limited ("BidCo") and the shareholders of Gold Reef other than Aldiss Investments (Proprietary) Limited in terms of which BidCo offered to acquire all the Gold Reef shares held by shareholders, other than the shares held by Aldiss.

"Tsogo did not intervene at the High Court of South Africa on the day on which the Scheme was sanctioned. The Scheme was approved and accepted by 99.99% of the shareholders present and voting at the scheme meeting convened for such purpose. The Scheme was sanctioned by the High Court of South Africa. The Order of Court sanctioning the scheme has been registered by the Registrar of Companies," Gold Reef said.

It said the offer remained the highest binding fully funded proposal received for Gold Reef.

It added that the group was currently in discussion with the Securities Regulation Panel in connection with the matters raised in these press reports.