DARREN SCHUETTLER AND OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday
FINANCE Minister Trevor Manuel has summarily blocked a $3.7bn merger between Gold Fields Ltd and Canada’s Franco-Nevada that would have created the world’s third biggest gold miner, leaving both parties stunned by the surprise ruling.
”We don’t understand the reasoning yet. Hopefully we will be able to get some discussion going,” Gold Fields representative Willie Jacobsz said.
Franco Nevada said it was disappointed with the ruling, but it held out some hope that the deal could be restructured.
”At the moment the deal, the way it is structured is dead. But there is always a theoretical possibility of working something out,” Sharon Dowdall, Franco’s vice-president, said in Toronto.
The companies announced the all-stock deal in June to create the world’s third largest gold producer with annual output of 4.4m ounces.
Analysts said a possible sticking point for the South African government was the plan to locate the new firm’s head office and primary listing in Toronto.
”The message to overseas investors is terrible. I think the benefits for South Africa would have been tremendous and this government cannot see very far at all, unfortunately,” said Rene Hochreiter, a mining analyst for BJM Securities.
Investors pushed Gold Fields’ stock to a session low of R21.00 on the Johannesburg bourse shortly after the announcement. The stock later recovered to trade down 8.2%, or R2.00, at R22.40.
Under the terms of the merger agreement, Gold Fields shareholders would have received 0.35 shares of Franco-Nevada for each Gold Fields common share.
”Today, in the new South Africa, there is little reason to disallow a South African company to venture out and pursue its ambition to become a global leader, and to find, develop or acquire gold reserves elsewhere,” he added. – Reuters