Canada鈥檚 Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX)(NYSE:GOLD) has been 聽and Wales to acquire all outstanding issued shares it doesn鈥檛 already own in Acacia Mining (LON:ACA), which gives the gold giant full control of the African miner.
Acacia directors Peter Geleta, Rachel English, Steve Lucas Deborah Gudgeon Alan Ashworth and Adrian Reynolds will resign from the board.
Graham聽Shuttleworth聽and聽Martin聽Welsh聽have joined the board as directors, Barrick said.
The UK鈥檚 court approval removes the last hurdle to the conclusion of Barrick鈥檚 takeover bid.
The deal also ends Acacia鈥檚 near-decade presence on the London Stock Exchange. The Tanzanian miner鈥檚 shares, which have lost more than 50% of their value聽since first traded nine years ago, will be delisted, effective September 18.
Barrick鈥檚 original offer, submitted in May, valued Acacia at only $787 million. In July, the gold giant bowed to pressure from the African gold miner鈥檚 shareholders and submitted a sweetened $1.2 billion-offer.
The acquisition ends Acacia鈥檚 near-decade presence on the London Stock Exchange. Shares will be delisted with effect from Sept. 18
Including the special dividends, which depend on asset sales, the fresh offer represented a 60% premium to Acacia鈥檚 share price at the time of聽the indicative takeover pitch.
As Acacia鈥檚 majority shareholder, with a 63.9% stake, Barrick led discussions over alleged unpaid taxes聽with the Tanzanian government, which has refused to deal directly with the local miner.
The parties reached a聽, which would see Acacia paying $300 million to settle the tax claims and splitting returns from its operations 50/50 with the country going forward.
Acacia, which聽spun off from Barrick in 2010, complained about being left out of the negotiations, but Barrick鈥檚 chief executive, Mark Bristow, said it was the only way forward.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a tragedy,鈥� he said聽in June. 鈥淲e鈥檙e dealing with a complete breakdown of relationships.鈥�
础肠补肠颈补听was ordered in July to stop using the tailings storage dam聽at its North Mara mine due to seepage from the facility.
Three of the company鈥檚 employees remain in jail in Tanzania awaiting charges for alleged corruption.
Barrick, the world鈥檚 No. 2 gold miner, is forging ahead with plans to sell about $1.5 billion in assets by the end of 2020. At the same time, it鈥檚 looking to buy more top-tier gold projects, in Canada and elsewhere, and invest in copper assets.