Barrick Gold Corp. the world's largest gold producer, raised 581 million pounds ($873 million) selling shares of its African unit near he low end of its price range in the biggest London initial public offering since 2008.
Barrick Gold sold 101 million shares of African Barrick Gold Plc at 575 pence apiece, Toronto-based Barrick said in a statement today. The mining company had planned to sell 25 percent of the unit at 550 to 650 pence a share. African Barrick shares were little changed after earlier sliding 4.5 percent.
The offering from African Barrick, which is comprised of Barrick Gold's four Tanzanian mines, is the latest sign of a possible revival in the European IPO market after companies from Travelport Ltd. to New Look Group Plc postponed share sales last month. Kabel Deutschland GmbH raised about $1 billion today in Germany's largest IPO in more than two years, while Brenntag Holding GmbH is also seeking to sell more than $1 billion.
The sale gives African Barrick a market value of 2.3 billion pounds. The company's mines produced 716,000 so-called attributable ounces of gold last year, more than Petropavlovsk or Randgold. Africa accounted for 10 percent of third-quarter sales at Barrick, which also mines in North America, South America and Australia.
