UK Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for the acquisition of Barrick's Acacia.
Canada's Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX) (NYSE: GOLD) has been authorized by the High Court of Justice of England and Wales to acquire outstanding issued shares that it has not yet acquired in Acacia Mining (LON: ACA). This gives the gold giant full control of the African miner.
The CEOs of Acacia Peter Geleta, Rachel English, Steve Lucas Deborah Gudgeon Alan Ashworth and Adrian Reynolds will leave the management.
Graham Shuttleworth and Martin Welsh have joined the board as members, said Barrick.
UK Court approval clears the last hurdle until the end of Barrick's takeover bid.
The transaction also ends Acacia's decades of trading on the London Stock Exchange. The Tanzanian Miner's shares, which have lost more than 50% of their value since they were first listed nine years ago, will be removed from the stock exchange effective September 18.
Barrick's original offer submitted in May estimated Acacia at only 787 million dollars. In July, the gold giant bowed to pressure from African gold miner shareholders and submitted a sweetened bid of 1,2 billion dollars.
Mining operations of Acacia. Acacia has been operating mines in Tanzania for over 15 years. The company has experience in both open pit and underground mining and has found and built two of the three mines currently operating in the country. Picture: Acacia
Including the special dividends that depend on the sale of assets, the new offering was equivalent to a premium of 60% on the share price of Acacia at the time of the prospective acquisition.
As majority shareholder of Acacia with 63,9% stake, Barrick held talks about allegedly unpaid taxes with the Tanzanian government, which has refused to negotiate directly with the local miner.
The parties reached a framework agreement in February to allow Acacia to pay 300 millions of dollars to settle tax claims and share the proceeds of its 50 / 50 businesses with the country's future business.
Acacia, which emerged from Barrick's 2010, complained that it was not included in the negotiations, but Barrick's CEO Mark Bristow said it was the only way forward.
“It's a tragedy,” he said in June. "We are dealing with a complete breakdown of relationships here."
Acacia was instructed in July to stop using the tailings tailing dam in the North Mara mine as it exits the plant.
Three employees of the company remain in prison in Tanzania awaiting charges of alleged corruption.
Barrick, the world's second-largest gold miner, is driving plans to sell around $ 2020 billion worth of assets by the end of 1,5. At the same time, the company strives to buy more high-end gold projects in Canada and elsewhere and to invest in copper resources.
Barrick / ISE - September 2019
