Newmont Mining rejects Barrick Gold's $17.8 billion hostile-takeover bid

REUTERS/Rick Wilking

• Barrick Gold's hostile takeover bid for Newmont Mining was rejected on Monday.
• Barrick Gold proposed the $17.8 billion deal last week in what would have created the world's largest gold producer.
• Watch Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining trade live.

Newmont Mining's board of directors on Monday rejected Barrick Gold's $17.8 billion hostile takeover bid. The offer would have created the world's largest gold producer.

Newmont also said its previously announced Goldcorp acquisition, in January, offered better benefits.

"Our thorough review of Barrick's unsolicited proposal and its associated risks has reaffirmed our conclusion that the combination of Newmont and Goldcorp represents the best opportunity to create value for Newmont's shareholders and deliver industry-leading returns for decades to come," Gary Goldberg, Newmont's chief executive, said in a release.

The deal Barrick proposed on February 25 was an all-stock transaction that would have paid Newmont shareholders about 2.6 Barrick shares per Newmont share, coming to a valuation of $17.8 billion, or $33.50 per share.

The company had raised "serious doubts" about Barrick's proposal from the day it was publicly announced last week, Bloomberg reported. Goldberg reportedly called Barrick's takeover offer "desperate" and "bizarre."

Newmont's rejection of the deal comes amid a recent string of consolidation in the gold mining industry.

Last September, Barrick agreed to buy Randgold Resources for $6.1 billion in stock. The two companies created the world's largest gold miner.

Public gold miners as tracked by the VanEck Gold Miners ETF have jumped 11% over the last three months.

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