Advance payment to cut heavily indebted Sibanye-Stillwater's debt by 28%
The producer will deliver a percentage of gold and palladium produced from its US operations to Wheaton until the $500m is paid back in full
Heavily indebted Sibanye-Stillwater, which has been dogged by numerous fatalities at its mines and a floundering share price, has secured $500m from Wheaton Precious Metals International that will slash the company’s debt by more than a quarter. In terms of the streaming deal, Sibanye will deliver a percentage of gold and palladium produced from its US operations to Wheaton until the $500m is paid back in full. Sibanye’s net debt of R23bn will be reduced 28.6% to R16.5bn when the deal is completed in about two weeks, said Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman. "It’s an important step forward in line with our strategy to deleverage our balance sheet," he said. The diversified miner has been under pressure to reduce debt following its acquisition of Stillwater in 2016, and the high number of fatalities from its gold operations did not bode well for the company’s share price, which has dropped about 50% so far in 2018. Streaming of a primary metal, such as palladium in the case of the Stillwater o...
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