Barrick Gold Sees Some Validation in SRK Report on Acacia

   By Carlo Martuscelli 
 

Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX.T) said Wednesday that talks to buy Acacia Mining PLC (ACA.LN) are continuing, and that parts of a report evaluating the target corroborated its own analysis.

The Toronto-based gold miner responded to a recent report published by SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd. which examined Acacia Mining's assets. It found the company to have a preferred value of 271 pence a share--a 49% premium to its closing price on Tuesday of 181.30 pence a share, valuing it at roughly $1.42 billion.

While Barrick said that it was still reviewing the report, it notes that the risk factors raised in it back its own analysis of Acacia's mine plans. Barrick also contested certain estimates Barrick has made of one of its Tanzania mine assets. The company said that, following certain results made public by Acacia, it believes that current estimates of the Gokona underground mine are no longer sustainable.

Barrick said it plans on meeting with representatives of both Acacia and SRK to discuss the report. Shareholders will be updated by the end of next week latest.

The Canadian company holds a 64% stake in Acacia, and proposed acquiring the London-listed miner via a stock swap of 0.153 Barrick share for each share of Acacia it doesn't already own in May. Based on current share prices, this equates to a value of around 196 pence a share.

The deadline for the deal was yesterday, but Acacia announced at the end of the day that the U.K. Panel on Takeovers and Mergers has agreed to extend the deadline again--until July 19.

Oliver Griffin contributed to this article.

Write to Carlo Martuscelli at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 10, 2019 03:05 ET (07:05 GMT)

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