Pan American To Acquire Minefinders  

VANCOUVER, BC – Pan American Silver Corp. and Minefinders Corporation Ltd. have entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which Pan American will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Minefinders by way of a plan of arrangement. Under the terms of the Arrangement Agreement, Minefinders shareholders will be entitled to elect to receive, in exchange for each Minefinders share held, either: 0.55 shares of Pan American and $1.84 in cash; or 0.6235 shares of Pan American; or $15.60 in cash, subject to pro-ration under total aggregate cash and share pools of approximately $176 million and approximately 53 million Pan American shares, respectively, on a fully-diluted basis. Assuming full pro-ration, Minefinders shareholders will receive 0.55 shares of Pan American and $1.84 in cash in exchange for each Minefinders share held.

The consideration represents a total offer value of $15.60 per Minefinders share, based on the January 20, 2012 closing price of Pan American common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange and a premium of 36% to the January 20, 2012 closing price of Minefinders shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange (33% premium based on the respective volume weighted average prices of Pan American and Minefinders on the Toronto Stock Exchange for the 20 trading days ending January 20, 2012). The proposed transaction implies a total transaction value of approximately $1.5 billion. Upon completion of the transaction, existing Minefinders shareholders will own approximately 33% of Pan American on a fully-diluted basis.