It is, in fact, the third deal if you go back to the Genesis (ASX:GMD) bid for the Leonora-based assets of St Barbara in late 2022 and early 2023 that Silver Lake (ASX:SLR) tried to gazump without success.
Like the Red 5-Silver Lake deal, the marriage of Horizon Minerals (ASX:HRZ) and Greenstone Resources (ASX:GSR) is an all-share deal because cash has real value with interest rates at multi-year highs.
The merged company will continue to trade as Horizon Minerals and have a mineral resource of around 1.8 million ounces of gold. It would also hold exploration assets in the Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie areas where Northern Star dominates with the Super Pit.
The merged company will have a value of around $34 million, so it will be a lot smaller than the Red5-Silver Lake deal, which has a value of around $2.2 billion.
The deal will be done by Horizon buying 100% of the ordinary shares in Greenstone and 100% of the listed Greenstone options. Upon completion, Horizon shareholders will own 63.1% of the merged entity. Greenstone shareholders will own the remaining 36.9% of the new company.
“This really is a logical consolidation of complementary assets, which creates greater potential for Horizon to unlock the value within our longer project pipeline,” Horizon CEO, Grant Haywood, said in the statement.
The combined mining company will be pursuing its growth strategy from a position of greater market scale, underpinned by a cash and listed investments balance of about $14.9 million and a lower consolidated cost base, he said.
The deal is due to be done by mid-year.