Bank of Montreal (TSX, NYSE: BMO) today announced an offering of 33,340,000 common shares at CDN$30.00 per share for total gross proceeds of approximately CDN$1.0 billion. The offering will be underwritten on a bought deal basis by a syndicate of underwriters. The Bank has granted to the underwriters an over-allotment option to purchase, on the same terms, up to a further 3,334,000 common shares. The option is exercisable, in whole or in part, up to 30 days after closing. The maximum gross proceeds raised under the offering will be approximately CDN$1.1 billion if the option is exercised in full.

The anticipated closing date of the offering is December 24, 2008. The net proceeds from the offering will be used by the Bank for general corporate purposes. The issue will qualify as Tier 1 capital.

Fairchild Semiconductor (NYSE: FCS) announced that the court overseeing its patent lawsuit with Power Integrations has reduced a jury’s award of damages to Power Integrations from approximately $34 million to approximately $6 million.

The court also ordered a new trial on whether Fairchild willfully infringed Power Integrations’ asserted patents. The rulings were issued Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

While a permanent injunction was also issued on a limited number of Fairchild products, the company said it did not expect the injunction to have a significant impact on its business because it had voluntarily stopped U.S. sales and importation of those products in 2007 and now offers replacement products worldwide.

(TSX: CAE)(NYSE: CGT) - CAE has been awarded contracts to design and manufacture three full-flight simulators (FFSs) and associated training devices valued at more than C$40 million at list prices. The contracts are with Saudi Arabian Airlines and the Hua Ou Aviation Training Centre in Beijing, China. CAE has announced so far a total of 26 FFS sales in fiscal year 2009.

"CAE's innovation and flexibility, as well as our commitment to work closely with our customers, allows us to find ways to address their specific training needs," said Marc Parent, CAE's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Macerich(R) (NYSE: MAC), one of the nation's largest owners, operators and developers of regional shopping centers, today announced that 22 of 41 Macerich-owned Mervyns sites acquired in December 2007 and first Quarter 2008 will go to retailers Forever 21 or Kohl's, pending approval by the court overseeing Mervyns bankruptcy proceedings. Forever 21 will be taking 12 of the spaces and Kohl's will be taking 10.

Macerich also announced today that it closed on a seven-year, $250 million loan on Washington Square Mall in Portland, Oregon. The loan has a fixed interest rate of 6.00%. The transaction generated proceeds to Macerich above the prior loan of approximately $63 million.

Minefinders Corporation Ltd. ("Minefinders" or the "Company") (TSX:MFL)(NYSE-A:MFN) today reported that the Company has closed its previously announced C$40,020,000 bought deal offering (the "offering") in which a syndicate of underwriters purchased 9,200,000 units (the "units") from Minefinders for sale to the public at a price of C$4.35 per unit. Each unit consists of one common share of the Company (a "common share") and one-half of one common share purchase warrant (a "warrant"). Each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase one common share of the Company, at a price of C$5.00 per common share, on or before December 31, 2011.

The lead underwriters for the offering were Scotia Capital Inc. and BMO Capital Markets with an underwriting syndicate that also included Salman Partners Inc.

The gross proceeds of the offering were $40,020,000. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to enhance working capital, reduce indebtedness and for general corporate purposes.

Aurizon Mines Ltd. (TSX: ARZ; NYSE Alternext U.S.: AZK) is pleased to announce the completion of an important infill drill program at its Joanna project, located 20 kilometres from Rouyn-Noranda, in north-western, Quebec.

Four hundred sixty-three (463) holes totalling 134,489 metres have been completed by Aurizon at Joanna, with the objective of confirming results from previous drilling and to extend the mineralized zones. Results from three hundred nineteen (319) holes have been previously released, and results from seventy (70) holes are included in this release. Results are currently pending for seventy-four (74) holes. All results are expected to be received before year end.

BCE Acquisition Inc. ("Purchaser") issued the following statement in response to today's demand by BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE) that the Purchaser pay BCE a C$1.2 billion termination fee due to the failure of the privatization transaction to close.

"It is most unfortunate that BCE is threatening litigation over the failure of a mutual closing condition that the company insisted be included in the original acquisition agreement. It is very clear that neither party has a right to a termination fee in these circumstances. Should BCE commence such baseless litigation, we are confident that it would not succeed."

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YAMANA GOLD INC. (TSX:YRI; NYSE:AUY; LSE:YAU) is pleased to announce that it has amended the terms of the previously announced bought deal with a syndicate of underwriters led by Canaccord Capital Corporation and Scotia Capital Inc. (collectively, the "Underwriters") to increase the size of the offering by an additional 5,800,000 common shares (the "Common Shares") subject to receipt by the Company of all necessary regulatory approvals. Under the amended terms of the offering the Underwriters have agreed to purchase an aggregate of 22,500,000 Common Shares for aggregate gross proceeds to Yamana of Cdn$135,000,000 (the "Offering"). In addition, Yamana and the Underwriters have agreed to remove the over-allotment option granted to the Underwriters in connection with the financing described in Yamana's press release of December 10, 2008.

Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation (NYSE:CDE) (TSX:CDM) (ASX:CXC) is pleased to announce that crushing activities have begun and construction activities are proceeding on schedule and on budget at its major Palmarejo silver and gold project in Mexico.

The mine has successfully operated the crusher, an important milestone in completion of the construction of the processing facilities at Palmarejo. In addition, commencement of silver and gold production remains on target to begin in late March following mechanical completion of all plant facilities.

Palmarejo is expected to produce approximately 5.3 million ounces of silver and 72,000 ounces of gold next year, contributing to an expected 63% increase in silver production and 100% increase in gold production in 2009 over 2008 levels.

Callon Petroleum Company (NYSE: CPE) announced today that after previously being shut-in due to third-party downstream transmission line and processing facility damage caused by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, production has resumed at most of its significant facilities located in the Gulf of Mexico. The Company expects remaining shelf facilities, which are shut-in, to be online within the next several weeks. This should bring the daily production rate to approximately 38 MMcfe\d which equals the Company’s pre-hurricane rate. The Company reaffirms previously issued guidance for the year of a rate of 31-35 MMcfe\d.

Fronteer Development Group Inc. ("Fronteer" or the "Company") (TSX: FRG)(NYSE-A: FRG) is pleased to announce that drilling by Newmont Mining Corp. ("Newmont") continues to delineate near-surface, high-grade, oxide gold mineralization at the Sandman gold project in Nevada.

Newmont has provided Fronteer with assay results for the first 16 holes drilled in Sandman's Southeast Pediment deposit. A total of 37 holes were completed at Sandman during the 2008 program. Assays for the remaining 21 holes are pending. Similar to Fronteer's Long Canyon project, drill results feature consistent, wide intervals of gold mineralization with high-grade zones, including:

Discovery Remains Open to Expansion in All Directions

John Macken, President and CEO of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TSX: IVN)(NYSE: IVN)(NASDAQ: IVN), and Doug Kirwin, Executive Vice-President, Exploration, today announced additional details of the exploration drilling at the company's Oyu Tolgoi Project in Mongolia that has discovered a new zone of high-grade gold and copper mineralization, which has characteristics of the earlier high-grade discoveries at the Hugo Dummett and Southwest Oyu deposits.

The Oyu Tolgoi mineralized structural corridor, as currently defined, now has a total strike length in excess of 20 kilometres - encompassing Oyu Tolgoi in the centre and more recent extensions to the south and north onto the joint Ivanhoe-Entree agreement area.

Infrastructure construction continues

Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TSX:IVN)(NYSE:IVN)(NASDAQ:IVN) - Ivanhoe Mines' 80%-owned subsidiary, SouthGobi Energy Resources Ltd.(TSX VENTURE:SGQ), announced today that the Ovoot Tolgoi mine in southern Mongolia has produced its first 1,000,000 tonnes of coal ahead of schedule and below budget.

"We are very pleased to announce this coal production milestone at Ovoot Tolgoi," said Gene Wusaty, SouthGobi Energy's Chief Operating Officer. "Our initial success at Ovoot Tolgoi is a positive reflection on the management, staff and employees at the mine and this further solidifies our position as a significant new coal producer in Mongolia."

Companies can Strengthen Established Brands with .tel domain for Global, Live Contacts Directory

London – Dec 5, 2008 – Iron Mountain Digital, the technology arm of Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM), today announced it will be among the first service providers to offer the new .tel domain name. The .tel domain is similar to an interactive business card on the web, and has been called “the Google of online address books.” As a recognised expert in intellectual property management, Iron Mountain Digital recommends that companies protect and strengthen their established brands by registering for a .tel domain during the sunrise period which started on December 3rd.

The .tel domain allows businesses and individuals to store and manage all of their contact information and keywords directly in the Domain Name System, or DNS, thereby displaying the contact information much more quickly. For large businesses with established domain name portfolios, .tel is a way to consolidate contact information and make their company or brand easier to contact.

MAG Silver Corp. (TSX: MAG)(NYSE-A: MVG) ("MAG") announced today that it has been advised of the intention of Fresbal Investments Ltd. ("Fresbal"), a subsidiary of Fresnillo plc, to make an unsolicited take-over bid for all of MAG's outstanding common shares not currently held by Fresnillo and its affiliates at an offer price of US$4.54 cash per share. Fresnillo is MAG's joint venture partner in the Juanicipio Joint Venture and, together with its affiliates, is the holder of approximately 19.8% of MAG's outstanding common shares.

On October 15, 2008, in response to Fresnillo's acquisition of approximately 19.8% of MAG's outstanding common shares, MAG announced that its Board of Directors had formed a Special Committee to assist it in evaluating strategic alternatives for the company.

Minefinders Corporation Ltd. (the "Company" or "Minefinders") (TSX:MFL)(NYSE-A:MFN) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters under which the underwriters have agreed to purchase 9,200,000 Units (the "Units") from Minefinders for sale to the public at a price of C$4.35 per Unit, representing an aggregate issue of $40,020,000 (the "Offering"). Each Unit will consist of one Common Share of the Company (a "Common Share") and one-half of one Common Share Purchase Warrant (a "Warrant"). Each whole Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one Common Share of the Company, at a price of C$5.00 per Common Share, on or before December 31, 2011.

Minefinders has also granted the underwriters an over-allotment option, exercisable in whole or in part for a period of 30 days after Closing, to purchase up to an additional 1,380,000 Units at the Offering price per Unit.

Biovail Corporation (NYSE:BVF) (TSX:BVF) today announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the Company's abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for a generic formulation of 200mg, 300mg and 400mg strengths of quetiapine fumarate extended-release tablets (sold under the brand name Seroquel XR by AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP). This represents Biovail's third successful ANDA filing in 2008.

Seroquel XR is an atypical antipsychotic agent indicated for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The product is available in 150mg, 200mg, 300mg and 400mg strengths. According to IMS Health, Seroquel XR generated U.S. revenues of approximately $166 million in the twelve-month period ended September 30, 2008.

Mentor's Aesthetic and Reconstructive Medical Products Complement Ethicon's Industry-Leading Surgery Portfolio

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ - News) and Mentor Corporation (NYSE: MNT - News), a leading supplier of medical products for the global aesthetic market, today announced a definitive agreement whereby Mentor will be acquired for approximately $1.07 billion in a cash tender offer. Mentor is expected to operate as a stand-alone business unit reporting through ETHICON, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company and leading provider of suture, mesh and other products for a wide range of surgical procedures.

Under the terms of the agreement, Johnson & Johnson will commence a tender offer to purchase all outstanding shares of Mentor at $31.00 per share.

Citi to issue preferred stock and warrants to U.S. Treasury and FDIC --Strike price on warrants set at $10.61 --Citi to receive capital benefits from government guarantee on $306 billion of assets --Citi secures access to multiple additional liquidity facilities

Citi (NYSE: C) today announced that it has reached an agreement with the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) on a series of steps to strengthen Citi's capital ratios, reduce risk, and increase liquidity, as described below: