\n Northern Star rejected the approach, but Gold Fields is considering its next steps, according to people familiar with the matter.
\n <\/p>\n
\n The potential deal comes as gold prices remain elevated and mining companies look to expand their portfolios and extract more value from their assets. Gold Fields has been particularly active in Australia, including its $2.4 billion acquisition of Gold Road Resources, according to Reuters, which gave it full control of the Gruyere mine.
\n <\/p>\n
\n Northern Star, which is based in Western Australia, is valued at about A$31.5 billion ($22.1 billion), while Gold Fields has a market value of about $35.7 billion, Bloomberg reported.
\n <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n Northern Star under pressure
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n
\n The approach comes at a difficult time for Northern Star. The company has faced pressure from activist investor Elliott Investment Management, which has pushed the miner to consider selling the company or divesting some assets.
\n <\/p>\n
\n Northern Star rejected Elliott\u2019s proposal in June, with Chairman Michael Chaney saying the company did not believe it was the right time to pursue a sale. However, he acknowledged that Northern Star had received interest from potential buyers and that it would continue to review strategic options.
\n <\/p>\n
\n The company also appointed a new CEO in July as it dealt with operational challenges and repeatedly cut its production guidance. Problems at its Kalgoorlie processing plant in Western Australia have constrained output and weighed on its performance.
\n <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n Gold Fields expands in Australia.
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n
\n For Gold Fields, a takeover would significantly deepen its exposure to Australia, one of the world’s major gold-producing regions.
\n <\/p>\n
\n The South African miner has expanded through acquisitions in recent years as high gold prices encourage consolidation across the industry.
\n <\/p>\n
\n Northern Star’s rejection means a deal is far from certain, but Gold Fields’ approach highlights the growing competition for large, producing gold assets as miners seek to increase production and benefit from strong bullion prices.
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Northern Star rejected the approach, but Gold Fields is considering its next steps, according to people familiar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":907367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-907366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}