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Long-term prospecting
Gold Fields CEO Chris Griffith's recent comments that the market seems to be warming to the merits of the miner's $6.7 billion (~R120 billion) bet on Canada's Yamana Gold now have some official confirmation, with clients of wealth manager Allan Gray having built up a 5% stake.
Gold Fields shareholders are set to vote on the acquisition in November, later than initially planned, and are yet to receive a circular, expected in October. The announcement of SA's biggest-ever outbound transaction had prompted the miner to crash by over a fifth in May, wiping out more than R30 billion in shareholder value.
Amid a backlash, Gold Fields then took to Twitter and other social platforms, engaged with shareholders, and has even promise a more generous dividend policy. Griffith has now said repeatedly that while the deal would be dilutive for shareholders in the short term, he is convinced about the transaction's longer-term merits, and the structure of the deal hasn't changed.
The acquisition, which would see Gold Fields offer 0.6 of its shares for each of Yamana's, would add five producing mines to Gold Fields' network, bringing the total number of operating assets to 14, as well as extend the life of the miner's underground operations.
Griffith indicated earlier in September that the firm hasn't seen a mass exodus of shareholders, with its top 10 remaining fairly consistent, something that has given the group confidence.
"We absolutely remain confident in our ability to get the deal over the line," Bloomberg reported Griffith saying at an industry event in the US. He also added that the company would not "fall over" if the deal fails to go through.
Gold Fields needs the backing of three quarters of its shareholder base. It counts BlackRock and the Public Investment Corporation as its biggest shareholders, with stakes of about 10%.
Allan Gray, meanwhile, didn't feature in Gold Fields 2021 reporting as among the fund managers holding at least 3%, with the miner saying on Wednesday its clients now hold 5.0415% of the total issued shares of the firm – a bet worth about R7 billion. Allan Gray is Africa's largest privately owned investment management company, and its approach is aimed at long-term wealth creation.
Gold Field's shares, however, still haven't fully recovered from its May crash, and are still down about 19% since the announcement was made. Over that same period, AngloGold Ashanti has fallen 7.1%, and Harmony Gold almost 13%.
