South Africa’s mining giant, Gold Fields Ltd said on Monday it has sealed a cash deal to acquire Osisko Mining for about $1.57 billion in a move to expand its operations to the Americas.
The gold producer would pay the Canadian company C$4.90 per share, offering a 55% premium to Osisko’s August 9 trading price, it said in a statement.
According to CEO Mike Fraser in a statement, the Johannesburg-based Gold Fields was already jointly developing a new mine called Windfall with Osisko and the deal would help it buy the remainder of the project.
Osisko 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 is exploring 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.
Earlier, the Gold Fields’ $6.7 billion proposal to acquire another Canadian producer Yamana Gold was blocked by rivals.