Barrick Gold has confirmed it is considering a takeover offer from Newmont Mining.
The Canadian company released a statement saying it has reviewed the opportunity to merger with the US-based Newmont in an all-share, nil premium transaction.
“No decision has been taken at this time,” Barrick announced on February 22. The potential deal would reportedly be worth as much as $19 billion in stock.
Barrick and Newmont form the Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) joint venture that operates the Super Pit gold mine in Western Australia
Both companies have also secured significant takeover deals in the past six months that have created what will be the two largest gold companies in the world.
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Barrick closed an acquisition of Randgold Resources in January after announcing a $US6.5 billion ($AU9.1 billion) bid in September 2018.
Newmont followed this move with a $US10 billion offer for Goldcorp in January, a deal that is scheduled to close during the second quarter.
If Barrick did make a successful takeover attempt, Newmont’s tie-up with Goldcorp would not go ahead.
Newmont yesterday reported that it received a notice of intent from a Barrick subsidiary to make two shareholder proposals for consideration at its next annual meeting.
The proposals would be to amend Newmont’s company by-laws to lower the share ownership threshold necessary to request a shareholder meeting to 15 per cent from the current 25 per cent, and to cancel all by-law amendments made since October 24 2018.
“The notice follows Barrick’s announcement on February 22, 2019, the same date as the delivery of the notice of intent, that it has reviewed the opportunity for an unsolicited, no premium merger with Newmont but has not made any decision,” Newmont stated.
“Newmont does not intend to speculate about Barrick’s motivations or intentions and reserves all rights with respect to the shareholder proposals.”
In Australia, Newmont owns the Boddington mine in Western Australia and the Tanami operation in the Northern Territory, in addition to its share in the Super Pit.