Gold Fields acquires Australia's Gold Road Resources in a higher A$3.7 billion deal

GOLD Fields has clinched the deal to acquire full control of Gold Road Resources after offering terms worth A$3.7 billion, higher than the A$3.3bn offer that the Australia-listed mining group initially rejected.

- EDWARD WEST

Gold Fields said Monday the R44bn agreement had been reached between them at A$3.40 per Gold Road share. Gold Road's share price notched up 9.4% on the Australian Stock Exchange to A$3.25 per share on Monday, while on the JSE, Gold Fields' share price surged 5.55% to R416.35.

Gold Fields' subsidiary, Gruyere Holdings, had entered into a binding scheme to acquire 100% of the share capital of Gold Road that it does not already own by way of an Australian scheme of arrangement, a statement from the Johannesburg-based global mining group said.

"The consolidation of our ownership in Gruyere gold mine (in which Gold Fields has a joint venture with Gold Road) is firmly aligned to our strategy of improving portfolio quality through investment in high-quality, long-life assets and is immediately additive to the group's cash generation," Gold Fields CEO Mike Fraser said in a statement.