Australian gold miner St Barbara Ltd said on Monday it agreed to sell its Leonora assets in Western Australia to Genesis Minerals for A$600 million ($403 million), and scrapped a proposed takeover of Genesis.
Under the revised deal, Genesis will pay A$370 million in cash, plus 147.8 million of its shares worth A$170 million and a conditional payment of shares worth A$60 million for the Leonora assets.
The revised transaction will result in St Barbara shareholders owning up to 19.5% of Genesis and help the gold miner reduce its senior debt and lease liabilities, with its main remaining operations in Canada and Papua New Guinea.
Melbourne headquartered St Barbara, which in December had agreed to buy Genesis for A$541.3 million, said the companies decided to terminate the takeover, mainly due to a rise in funding requirements, in part due to underperformance at the Gwalia mine in Leonora.
“The board believes the transaction value from the sale of the Leonora assets represents fair value for our shareholders,” St Barbara chair Tim Netscher said.
Shares of St Barbara Ltd rose 2.3% to A$0.66, while Genesis shares jumped 10.5% to A$1.22 as of 0101 GMT.
($1 = 1.4899 Australian dollars)
(By Nausheen Thusoo; Editing by Uttaresh Venkateshwaran and Sonali Paul)
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