Barrick Gold Unlikely To Offer Rival Bid For Australia-Based Newcrest Mining Deal

Barrick Gold Corp GOLD has denied a counterbid for Newcrest Mining NCMGY NCMGF, eliminating what had seemed to be the most likely prospect of a rival to bidder Newmont Corporation NEM.
Newmont, on Monday, bid $16.9 billion for Newcrest, whose operations include top-class asset Cadia in Australia and an expanding footprint in North America, Papua New Guinea, and Ecuador. It also has growth potential in copper.
"There is a difference between value merger acquisitions and getting bigger for the sake of getting bigger," Barrick Gold CEO Mark Bristow said Monday in an interview.
Amid broad consolidation in the sector, the offer from U.S.-based Newmont could trigger bids from rival gold producers. But none would come from Barrick, Mark Bristow told Bloomberg.
Newmont's offer "is motivated mainly by valuation" and is "a unique opportunity to add exposure in preferred mining jurisdictions" such as Australia and Canada, Credit Suisse analysts Fahad Tariq and Jessica Xu said in a note to clients.
The analysts said they see "limited potential for operational synergies" with the deal.
Price Action: NEM shares are up 0.44% at $47.81 during the premarket session on the last check Tuesday.