Gold Fields Ltd, opens new tab said on Monday (12 August) it has agreed to acquire Osisko Mining (OSK.TO), opens new tab for C$2.16 billion (about US$1.57 billion) in a cash deal that will help the South African producer expand its presence in the Americas region.
The Johannesburg-based gold producer would pay the Canadian miner C$4.90 per share, offering a 55% premium to Osisko’s 9 August trading price, it said in a statement.
Gold Fields was already jointly developing a new mine called Windfall with Osisko and the deal would help it acquire the remainder of the project, CEO Mike Fraser said in the statement.
Osisko, which has recommended the deal to its shareholders, said Gold Fields was well suited to take the Windfall project into production.
“This premium transaction represents a strong and near-term outcome for our shareholders and is reflective of the truly world class nature of the Windfall Project,” Osisko Chairman and CEO John Burzynski said.
Gold Fields, founded by Cecil John Rhodes in 1887, has shifted its focus to lucrative deposits in Ghana, Australia and the Americas given the geological challenges of digging for the precious metal in some of the world’s deepest mines in its home country.
Gold Fields said Osisko’s projects in Quebec will help it “firmly solidify its presence in a Tier-1 mining jurisdiction in one of the largest gold deposits in Canada, and a top ten gold deposit globally by head grade”.
Gold Fields said it will fund the deal from own cash, un-drawn bank facilities with additional financing coming from a group of lenders.
The deal with Osisko comes after Gold Fields’ US$6.7 billion proposal to buy another Canadian producer Yamana Gold (YRI.S), opens new tab in 2022 was foiled by rivals.
