Bloomberg
Sibanye Gold Ltd. (SGL), the South African miner spun off from Gold Fields Ltd. this year, will acquire a majority stake in Gold One International Ltd. (GDO)’s Cooke Operations west of Johannesburg in an all-share transaction.
Sibanye will issue new shares accounting for 17 percent of its total issued stock to Gold One, which is 90 percent owned by a group of Chinese investors known as the BCX Consortium, it said in a statement today. The 150 million shares Sibanye will issue to Gold One were valued at about 1.5 billion rand ($148 million), based on yesterday’s close in Johannesburg.
“Gold One and its 90 percent shareholder, the Chinese BCX Consortium, will be an anchor shareholder with a long-term investment horizon, which will support Sibanye Gold’s long-term growth strategy,” the company said in a regulatory filing.
South African gold miners are confronting an 18 percent drop in the spot gold price this year and wage talks with labor unions, which have rejected a 5 percent increase in salaries. The National Union of Mineworkers, which represents 64 percent of gold miners, has called for a 61 percent jump in entry-level salaries.