New Gold Completes $1.2B Business Combination with Western Goldfields

June 1, 2009, New Gold Inc. and Western Goldfields Inc., both Canadian mining companies listed on the TSX and the NYSE Amex, completed a business combination, pursuant to which New Gold acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of Western Goldfields on the basis of one New Gold share and $0.0001 for each Western Goldfields share acquired by way of a court-approved plan of arrangement. The market capitalization of the combined company on the closing date was approximately $1.2 billion.

New Gold was represented by Susan Toews, corporate secretary of New Gold, and by a team from Lawson Lundell LLP that included Nathan Daniels and Guy Davis (M&A). New Gold was also advised by Michael Colborne and Michael McLaren of Thorsteinssons LLP on Canadian tax matters, by Christopher Doerksen, Shona Smith and Jennifer Reed of Dorsey & Whitney LLP on US securities law matters, and by Daniel Luchsinger of Covington & Burling LLP on US tax matters.

Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP acted for Western Goldfields with a team that included Cameron Mingay, André Boivin, Eva Bellissimo, Jason MacIntosh and Angela Chu (securities), Stuart English (business law) and Ken Snider (tax). Shearman & Sterling LLP represented Western Goldfields in the US with a team that included Christopher Cummings and Adam Lewinberg (M&A) and Laurence Crouch and Eileen O'Pray (tax). Cassels Brock remains continuing counsel of New Gold following the business combination.

Lawyer(s)

Jennifer Reed Michael W. Colborne Kenneth J. Snider André Boivin Christopher J. Cummings Cameron A. Mingay Laurence E. Crouch Eileen M. O'Pray Jason M. MacIntosh Nathan Daniels Guy Davis Angela Chu Michael H. McLaren Stuart A. English Christopher L. Doerksen

Firm(s)

Lawson Lundell LLP Thorsteinssons LLP Dorsey & Whitney LLP Covington & Burling LLP Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP Shearman & Sterling LLP