Canadian gold miner B2Gold to buy Australia’s CGA Mining for $1.1 bn
20 Sep 2012
Canadian gold miner B2Gold Corp has agreed to buy CGA Mining Ltd, owner of the largest operating gold project in the Philippines, in a $1.1-billion all-stock deal.
B2Gold is offering 0.74 of its own shares for each share of CGA, a 26 per cent premium to CGA's closing price as of 17 September.
Post merger, Shareholders of B2Gold will own about 62 per cent of the combined company, while the remaining will be held by CGA shareholders.
Acquisition of the Perth, Australia-based CGA will give B2Gold the Masbate mine in the Philippines, which has total resources of about 7.7 million ounces. Along with Masbate's resources, B2Gold's output would increase by 57 per cent.
The Masbate gold mine, which has 3.2 million ounces of proven and probable gold reserves, will produce 200,000 ounces of gold over the 12-month period ending 30 June 2013.
B2Gold said it was well positioned to operate and further develop Masbate given its strong funding capacity and a management team with significant exploration, mine development and operating experience.