South African gold miner AngloGold Ashanti will buy rival UK-based Centamin for $2.5 billion and take over its mine in Egypt, boosting AngloGold Ashanti's gold production by 450,000 ounces to 3 million ounces a year, Centamin's press office said.
"The Boards of AngloGold Ashanti and Centamin are pleased to announce that they have agreed the terms of a recommended acquisition of Centamin [...] The Offer Value implies Centamin’s entire issued and to be issued share capital is valued at approximately £1.9 billion or US$2.5 billion," Centamin's press office said.
With the addition of the Sukari mine in Egypt, AngloGold Ashanti's annual gold production is expected to increase by about 450,000 ounces to more than 3 million ounces a year, according to company documents. The company has produced 5.9 million ounces of gold from its deposits since mining began in 2009.
"We are delighted to be announcing today's Transaction, which will add a Tier 1 asset to our portfolio. The Transaction is free cash flow accretive in the first full year of production and NAV accretive from day one; it will also offer additional upsides as we leverage our corporate infrastructure and our core competencies in exploration, operations and asset optimization," said Alberto Calderon, Chief Executive Officer of AngloGold Ashanti.