{"id":877118,"date":"2026-09-28T09:52:49","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T07:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=877118"},"modified":"2026-09-28T09:52:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T07:52:52","slug":"south-african-mining-giants-r445-billion-international-expansion-shut-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/877118\/south-african-mining-giants-r445-billion-international-expansion-shut-down\/","title":{"rendered":"South African mining giants’ R445 billion international expansion shut down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Northern Star, an Australian mining firm, rejected an “opportunistic” plan by Gold Fields to acquire 100% of the company for approximately R445.3 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news comes after Bloomberg reported on Saturday, 26 September, that Gold Fields had expressed interest in acquiring the Australian mining giant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gold Fields is a major player in South Africa’s mining industry, with domestic and international operations and a market cap of approximately R586 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company controls several mines in South Africa, including South Deep in the Witwatersrand basement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internationally, Gold Fields has a presence in Australia, Ghana, Peru, Chile, and Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloomberg reported that Gold Fields had made a confidential purchase offer to Northern Star, which Northern Star had rejected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“South Africa\u2019s Gold Fields has expressed interest in acquiring Northern Star Resources, according to people with knowledge of the matter,” Bloomberg said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal came after Northern Star had reportedly struggled in recent months, leading to investor scrutiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), Northern Star has seen its share prices stagnate in the year to date, following a strong rally at the start of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the start of the year, Northern Star shares traded at AU$24.43 (R281.14) and declined slightly to AU$22.11 (R254.48) on 25 September, before the purchase offer was disclosed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responding to media speculation, Northern Star issued a statement on the ASX news service confirming that Gold Fields had approached it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Northern Star Resources notes recent media commentary… and confirms that it received, considered, and rejected a confidential, opportunistic, unsolicited, and conditional non-binding indicative proposal from Gold Fields,” the company said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“On 25 September 2026, Northern Star informed Gold Fields that the board does not consider it appropriate to engage further in relation to the indicative proposal.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gold Fields offered AU$27.00 per share for the acquisition, with an implied equity value of AU$38.7 billion (R445.3 billion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This proposal was 22% higher than Northern Star’s closing share price on 11 September, AU$22.08 (R254.03).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gold Fields turned away<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Northern Star said it had rejected the proposed acquisition because it did not reflect the company’s true long-term value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company also described the offer as “highly opportunistic” and noted that the proposal included several conditions, including a request for a period of “hard” exclusivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said the regulatory approval process required for the proposed acquisition would also expose its shareholders to a “prolonged period of uncertainty”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northern Star Chairman, Michael Chaney, said the company’s board had unanimously rejected the proposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Gold Fields has sought to acquire one of the world’s premier gold portfolios at a price that falls well short of what the board considers to be its fundamental value and at a highly opportunistic time,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The board has unanimously rejected the indicative proposal.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, 28 September 2026, Gold Fields issued a statement on the Stock Exchange News Service, confirming the confidential proposal and providing its rationale for the deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The approach to Northern Star is consistent with Gold Fields\u2019 strategy to improve the quality and value of its portfolio through investment in high-quality, long-life assets,” the company said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gold Fields CEO, Mike Fraser, said the acquisition would “bring proven operational and development capability to Northern Star\u2019s portfolio.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“While we are disappointed that the Northern Star Board has not yet chosen to engage on a proposal that we continue to believe offers compelling strategic and financial benefits for both sets of shareholders, we remain open to constructive dialogue,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company noted that while it remains open to discussions about the proposed transaction, there are no guarantees that the acquisition will proceed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There can be no certainty that any further engagements with Northern Star will materialise, or that a transaction will be successfully concluded,” Gold Fields said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Australian mining firm has confirmed it rejected a proposed acquisition by South African mining giant Gold Fields.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":851436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"failed","_sma_x_autopost_error":"Instagram publishing failed: Instagram returned HTTP 400: Media ID is not available","_sma_x_post_id":"2104479486007734749","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2219239828896416","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[2097,6698,26632,26633],"class_list":["post-877118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-australia","tag-gold-fields","tag-northern-star","tag-south-deep"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877118"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":877141,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877118\/revisions\/877141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}