Canadian miner Barrick Gold Corp said on Tuesday it has proposed to acquire all of the shares it does not already own in Acacia Mining Plc through a share-for-share exchange of 0.153 Barrick shares for each ordinary share of Acacia.
The proposal values Acacia, which is majority-owned by Barrick, at $787 million and total consideration to the minority shareholders of Acacia of $285 million, Barrick said.
In its statement, Barrick said it has been negotiating with the government of Tanzania for the last two years to settle a tax dispute which could allow Acacia to resume its full operations in the country.
In a results presentation earlier this month, Barrick CEO Mark Bristow said Acacia was not cooperating in the negotiations and that Barrick was “stuck in the middle”, prompting Acacia’s interim CEO to criticize what he called Barrick’s early intervention.
Bristow also said at the time that Barrick was open to buying out Acacia’s minority shareholders.
Tanzania has accused Acacia of evading taxes for years by under-declaring exports – an allegation dismissed by the company.
Source: Reuters.com