Barrick Gold Corp. is going hostile in its bid to acquire Newmont Mining Corp. and create the world’s largest gold producer, offering $17.8 billion for the company in an all-share deal. Shares of both companies tumbled.
The proposed purchase, which is a discount to Newmont’s closing price on Friday, raises the potential for a three-way fight between some of the world’s largest gold miners. Newmont said its board would review the deal but made clear its previously announced plan to take over Goldcorp Inc. offers better benefits.
“Newmont has previously determined that Barrick’s risk and return profile is inferior on many fronts, including factoring Barrick’s comparatively ineffective operating model, poor track record on delivering shareholder returns and unfavorable jurisdictional risk,” the Colorado-based company said in a statement Monday.
Gold miners have been merging as the price of the metal has gained in the past year. The Barrick bid, if completed, would likely derail Newmont’s own $10 billion takeover of rival Goldcorp, announced last month, putting a big question mark over the future of three large gold miners.
It would also put an end to years of on-again, off-again talks to merge Barrick and Newmont, the latest of which collapsed in 2014.
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