Gold Fields adds to its Ghanaian assets with stake in Asanko Gold
Gold Fields made its long-anticipated move to buy assets in Ghana, buying half of Canadian Asanko Gold’s subsidiary in the country and buying a 9.9% stake in the parent company for a combined total of nearly $204m. Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland has long spoken of Ghana as an area of growth for the JSE-listed company, which has the Damang and Tarkwa mines in the country. There had been speculation that there could be a deal with AngloGold Ashanti around the Iduapriem mine, but AngloGold repeatedly said it was not interested. To pay for the two-tier deal with Asanko, Gold Fields will use its cash and draw down on existing debt facilities. Gold Fields said the investment would provide a return of 15% at a gold price of $1,300/oz, and it would be paid back within five years. "We are comfortable that despite our current investment programme (Damang in Ghana and Gruyere in Australia) this acquisition is well within our balance sheet capacity, particularly as it is a producing asset," Gold ...
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