African Barrick Gold raises $834 million in London IPO

African Barrick Gold (ABG), a unit of the world's largest gold producer, Barrick Gold Corporation has raised approximately $834 million through an initial public offering in London, the biggest IPO in the UK in almost two years.

ABG was created last month by spinning-off Canadian gold miner Barrick Gold's African mining and exploration properties. (See: Barrick spins off Africa unit; reports 118 per cent jump in Q4 net)

At that time Barrick had said that it intends to offer approximately 25 per cent of the equity of the new company in an IPO and list the new shares in the London Stock Exchange

Through the IPO, ABG sold approximately 101 million ordinary shares, or about 25 per cent of its equity, retaining approximately 75 per cent interest in the company, a statement released yesterday said.

An over-allotment option has also been granted for approximately 10 per cent or 10.1 million shares, in case of overwhelming response from investors.

The company has fixed the offer price at 575 pence a share which is close to the lower end of the targeted 550 pence to 650 pence price band.