Gold Fields Ltd. is considering a sweetened takeover bid for Northern Star Resources Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter, as the South African miner seeks to overcome resistance to a deal that would create the world’s second-largest gold producer.
The company is looking at increasing the cash component of its proposal after Australia’s Northern Star rejected its initial approach on Monday, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.
The deliberations are at an early stage and there’s no certainty Gold Fields will make a revised offer, the people said. A spokesperson for Gold Fields declined to comment.
The initial A$38.7 billion ($27.1 billion) cash-and-shares offer amounted to a 22% premium, according to Gold Fields. Under the proposal, Northern Star shareholders would have owned about a third of the combined company.
In rejecting the proposal, Northern Star said it did not reflect the fundamental value of its portfolio and growth opportunities. Shares in Gold Fields dropped 12% in Johannesburg on Monday, before making a partial recovery on Tuesday.
A move to increase the cash portion could help address one of the key hurdles in the original proposal, while potentially making the offer more attractive to Northern Star investors who don’t want substantial exposure to Gold Fields.
A surge in bullion prices and widespread production misfires across the gold industry had heaped pressure on miners to seize opportunities for growth, or risk becoming a target themselves. Yet gold prices have come under pressure recently, falling around 25% from a January peak, and operational setbacks have fueled valuation gaps that have been tough for buyers to overcome.
The combined company would produce annual output of 4.1 million ounces, according to Gold Fields. More than half of that would come from a cluster of mines in Western Australia, and Gold Fields said combining them could help unlock synergies of as much as $5 billion.
(By Dinesh Nair, Paul-Alain Hunt, Loni Prinsloo and Manuel Baigorri)
