Acacia Mining agrees £951m sale to Barrick Gold

Acacia Mining has agreed to be bought by Barrick Gold in a deal that values the UK gold miner at about £951m and concludes two months of fractious talks between the companies.

Barrick, the world's biggest gold miner, said it would pay 0.168 new Barrick share for each share it does not own of the FTSE 250 company. The Canadian miner already owns 64% of Acacia.

Acacia shareholders will also receive any special dividends from the sale of Acacia Exploration Properties and any deferred cash dividends. Acacia is selling its exploration assets in Tanzania, Kenya, Mali and Burkina Faso and Barrick will continue with the sale.

Based on the closing price for Barrick shares in New York on 18 July, the deal values Acacia shares at about 232p each. The price is 53.5% more than Acacia's closing share price on 20 May, the day before takeover talks were announced, and 24.2% higher than Acacia's closing share price on 18 July.

Acacia shares rose 19% to 220p at 0810 BST.

The agreed price is an improvement on Barrick's indicative offer in May of 0.153 of its own shares for each Acacia share. Canada's Barrick and Acacia disputed Acacia's valuation and plans in a series of public comments during takeover talks. Barrick's increased offer reflects a higher valuation for the assets that were part of the dispute.

Acacia, which owns three goldmines in Tanzania, is in dispute with Tanzania's government over tax and has not able to export gold-bearing ore since 2017.

Barrick claimed Acacia's relationship with Tanzania's government was damaged beyond repair and that the UK company's shareholders faced a catastrophic loss of value if they did not accept its offer. Acacia replied that it was still talking to high-level government officials and that a takeover had to be at the right price.