Canada’s Barrick Gold (TSX, NYSE:ABX), the world’s largest bullion producing by value, is about to become even bigger as it has agreed to buy Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) in a $18.3 billion share deal.
The new Barrick, valued at $24 billion including debt, would be now the world’s top gold miner by value and output in an industry under investor pressure to put capital to good use.
The company will be listed in New York and Toronto and own five of the world’s 10 lowest cost gold mines.
Randgold’s shareholders will own 33.4 percent of the combined firm, with the rest controlled by Barrick’s investors.
As part of the deal, China’s Shandong Gold, one of the country’s biggest gold producers, has agreed to buy $300 million of shares in Barrick. The Toronto-based miner will also buy the equivalent amount of shares in Shandong Mining, a listed subsidiary of Shandong Gold, it said in a separate statement.
More to come…
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From:: Mining.com