24th Sep 2018 07:34
LONDON (Alliance News) - London-listed gold miner Randgold Resources PLC on Monday announced an all-share merger with Canada's Barrick Gold Corp, creating an "industry-leading gold company".
Randgold shareholders will receive 6.1280 Barrick shares per Randgold share - following the deal, Barrick shareholders will own just short of 67% of the new company with Randgold's holding the rest.
The merger is expected to complete by the end of the first quarter of 2019. It will see Randgold leave the London Stock Exchange, where it is currently a FTSE 100 constituent. The new company, to be called Barrick Group, will be listed on both the New York and Toronto stock markets.
Barrick Executive Chairman John Thornton commented: "The combination of Barrick and Randgold will create a new champion for value creation in the gold mining industry, bringing together the world's largest collection of tier one gold assets, with a proven management team that has consistently delivered among the best shareholder returns in the gold sector over the past decade."
Thornton will take up the same role in the new company, while its chief executive will be current Randgold CEO Mark Bristow.
Bristow said: "Our industry has been criticised for its short-term focus, undisciplined growth and poor returns on invested capital.
"The merged company will be very different. Its goal will be to deliver sector leading returns, and in order to achieve this, we will need to take a very critical view of our asset base and how we run our business, and be prepared to make tough decisions. By employing a strategy similar to the one that proved very successful at Randgold, but on a larger scale, the new Barrick Group will leverage some of the world's best mines and talent to create real value for all stakeholders."
Related Shares:
Randgold Resources