Gold Fields offloads $1.1b slice of Northern Star Resources

Gold Fields has sold a stake in fellow miner Northern Star Resources for $1.1 billion as gold continues to reach fresh record highs.

The company offered about 49.3 million securities in Northern Star at between $21.85 and $22.30 each, according to terms of the deal seen by Bloomberg on Thursday. That reflected a discount of about 1.6 per cent to 3.6 per cent to its last closing price of $22.66.

On Friday, a block trade of 47.6 million Northern Star shares, equivalent to 3.3 per cent of the firm’s stock, traded at 9.30am AEST at $22.05 apiece. Northern Star’s stock fell as much 0.8 per cent.

The trade comes after the Johannesburg-listed miner agreed in May to buy Gold Road Resources in a deal valuing its Australian joint venture partner at about $3.6b.

Bullion’s record-breaking rally over the past three years — with prices hitting a fresh record this week — has renewed interest in deal-making across the sector after years of overspending and operational setbacks curbed appetite for assets.

Gold Fields and Northern Star didn’t immediately respond to request for comment on Thursday.

Bloomberg