Barrick announces that it has formally acquired Acacia

Dar es Salaam. Barrick Gold Corporations has announced that it has officially acquired shares it did not own at its subsidiary company Acacia in a court sanctioned scheme of arrangement.

The announcement was made by Mark Bristow President and CEO of the company on Friday, September 13, 2019.

“Following the court sanction today, Acacia Mining plc and its operations become fully part of Barrick Gold Corporation and we welcome you into our family,” read a statement in Part.

It adds, “Barrick determined to acquire all the shares it did not own in a court sanctioned scheme of arrangement from the minority shareholders of Acacia as a show of confidence in the potential of the operating assets of Acacia, the geology of the country, the country itself and its people. We firmly believe that we can manage the assets better as part of the group and together with the Government of Tanzania as a 16% shareholder, than the previous London Stock Exchange listed arrangement,” it adds. 

During the process of negotiating the transaction, Barrick and the Government of Tanzania agreed to a framework that will reflect a 50/50 split in economic benefits from the operations, as well as direct involvement of the Government in managing the assets through a management company.

“We recognize that Acacia was previously not managed optimally, which resulted in a diminished license to operate in Tanzania, with communities, provinces and political leaders calling for Acacia mines to be closed,” Mr Bristrow said in the statement.

Although Barrick was the majority shareholder of Acacia, it did not have control over Acacia’s management through the complexities of the London Stock Exchange listing regulations.

Consequently, Barrick decided to acquire the shares that it did not own because it recognized, in the first place, its responsibility as a majority shareholder in Acacia to rectify these past issues.