LONDON - Toronto based Barrick Gold has agreed to buy Randgold Resources for $6.1 billion in stock to create the world's largest gold miner.
Investors will get 6.128 new Barrick shares for each Randgold share they hold. Shareholders in Barrick will own about 66.6 per cent of the merged company, which will combine Randgold's African mines with Barrick's holdings in the Americas.
Nicholas Hyett, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, says the deal marks a return to Africa for Barrick, which spun off its holdings there eight years ago.
Barrick's more stable North American assets will reduce Randgold investors' exposure to risky African markets.
Hyett says that's also welcome since Randgold had been struggling to find new projects of scale.
The Associated Press