Barrick sells NovaGold stake after takeover bid fails

By Lynn Thomasson
Bloomberg News Service
Friday, April 20, 2007

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aU4HyGtquHTg&refer=c...

Barrick Gold Corp., the world's biggest gold producer, today sold its entire stake in NovaGold Resources Inc. after its hostile takeover bid failed.

Barrick Gold was the largest NovaGold shareholder, owning 13.6 million shares of the Vancouver-based gold mining company for a 14.8 percent stake. Barrick's attempt to buy NovaGold for $1.71 billion failed in December.

"Obviously we would have preferred to have had a larger stake in the company," Barrick spokesman Vincent Borg said in an interview. "We decided we did not want to keep them."

Mining companies have been seeking to take advantage of a five-year rally in gold prices to make acquisitions in order to boost reserves and production.

Barrick, which is based in Toronto, said on April 5 that it would consider selling all of its NovaGold shares after NovaGold investors rejected Barrick's $16-a-share cash offer. This came after NovaGold Chief Executive Officer Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse said the offer was too low.

Barrick had acquired the 13.6 million shares at the close of its offer on Dec. 6.

NovaGold shares rose for the first time in five days, gaining 6 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $16.11 at 11:04 a.m. in American Stock Exchange trading. They have fallen 6.1 percent this year.

Barrick Gold gained 50 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $29.18 in New York Stock Exchange Trading.

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