By Jacquie McNish 

Paulson & Co. is opposing Newmont Mining Corp.'s $10 billion merger with Goldcorp Inc. because it would transfer away significant gains from a recently announced Nevada joint venture, according to a letter seen by The Wall Street Journal.

"Under the current terms we are unable to support the transaction," Paulson told Newmont Chief Executive Gary Goldberg in a letter dated Thursday.

Paulson said in its letter that it owns 14.2 million shares, which would rank it as one of Newmont's largest shareholders. It is unclear when Paulson acquired its stake.

A spokesman for Newmont said the company is evaluating Paulson's letter.

Newmont last week struck a deal with rival Barrick Gold Corp to combine the two companies' gold mining operations in Nevada, a venture that both companies said would yield nearly $5 billion in cost cuts and production gains.

Paulson said Newmont shareholders would lose about 35% of the planned Nevada gains under the current merger agreement. Unless Newmont reserves the Nevada gains for its shareholders, Paulson said it would oppose the merger pact.

Write to Jacquie McNish at Jacquie.McNish@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 21, 2019 16:31 ET (20:31 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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