The cash offer has a limit of $C1 billion. The battle for Andean and its eventual takeover by one of the Canadian groups means that the number of ASX-listed gold companies will again contract. Last week Newcrest became an $18.7 billion company when it completed its takeover of Lihir, leaving Andean as the second biggest ASX-listed stock ahead of Perth-based African specialist Perseus ($1.2 billion) and Sydney-based Thai gold producer Kingsgate ($1 billion).