Acacia hits out at Barrick statements on shareholder value

Acacia Mining on Wednesday hit back at claims from majority shareholder Barrick Gold that shareholders faced a “catastrophic” loss of value if they opposed an offer for the rest of the troubled firm.

Tanzania-focused Acacia on Tuesday agreed to extend to July 9 the deadline for Toronto-based Barrick to make a firm offer to buy the 36.1% of the company it does not already own.

It said it “strongly” disagreed with “a number of statements” made by Barrick, adding that it was “surprised with the circumstances and timing of the announcement” given the request for the deadline extension.

“The company will provide a detailed response to the relevant aspects of the announcement, as appropriate, in due course. Shareholders are strongly urged to take no action at this time,” Acacia said in a statement.

Barrick's share-for-share proposal valued Acacia at $787m, almost a 9% discount to its pre-offer closing price.

“Barrick believes that unless a solution is found to the current impasse in the short term there is the real risk of catastrophic loss of value for all stakeholders,” it said, adding that its offer "represents the only credible option to preserve, to the extent possible, the value of Acacia’s assets".

The Canada-based miner added that it would expect to record a "material impairment" to its carrying value of Acacia in the current quarter.

The Barrick proposal followed two years of arguments with the Tanzanian government over a $190bn tax bill and an export ban over allegations of false declarations of overseas bullion sales.

Acacia has been excluded from the talks with the government and Barrick negotiating on its behalf.