UPDATE 4-Meridian board OKs sweetened Yamana bid

(Adds CEO, analyst comments, updates shares to close)

By Jonathan Spicer and Cameron French

TORONTO/DENVER, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Yamana Gold (YRI.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) again sweetened its takeover offer for Meridian GoldMNG.TO on Monday, winning the approval of Meridian's board and appearing to end an extended and often testy battle over the bid, now worth about C$3.4 billion

Yamana boosted the cash component of its offer by 50 Canadian cents to C$7.00 a share. The share component of the offer remained unchanged at 2.235 Yamana common shares for each Meridian share. As part of the deal, Yamana will also acquire Northern Orion Resources NNO.TO for about C$1 billion.

The deal will vault Yamana to the upper echelons of mid-tier gold producers, with combined production that will jump from 1 million ounces this year to 1.5 million ounces in 2009 and 2.2 million by 2012.

"We are confident in this being the go-to, the dominant intermediate gold company," Yamana chief executive Peter Marrone said at the Denver Gold Forum on Monday.

"If you take the profile, from a cash flow and earnings point of view, of a senior company, with the growth of cash flow, earnings and production of an intermediate company, that's really what we're creating here."

The stocks of all three firms slipped, with Meridian falling 59 Canadian cents to C$33.57 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and Yamana falling 45 Canadian cents to C$12.10. Northern Orion eased 10 Canadian cents to C$6.45.

Based on these prices, the deal is worth C$34.04 per Meridian share and C$6.57 per Northern Orion share.