In a letter to the Barrick Gold Corp. board of directors released last week, chairman of Newmont's board of directors Vincent A. Calarco responded to recent conversations with Barrick about a potential company merger and said Newmont has decided to end any attempts to work toward a merger agreement with the other company.
According to a Bloomberg story last week, the two companies had been working toward a merger, but plans had fallen through. At the time of the story, representatives with knowledge of the discussion told Bloomberg there was still the potential to come to an agreement in the future.
Calarco said in his letter, however, that it has become evident over the past several weeks that the necessary relationship does not currently exist to merge the two companies.
Calarco referenced a Financial Times story which quotes Barrick Gold Corp. board chairman Peter Munk as calling Newmont "extremely bureaucratic and not shareholder-friendly."
Calarco responded by saying, "Nothing could be further from the truth."
Calarco said discussions between the two boards and comments made by Barrick made his board question whether the two companies actually had a shared vision and the values that are necessary to forge a successful new company.
"It is, in fact, because of our deep commitment to our shareholders that we reluctantly have had to unanimously conclude that we need to put aside our attempts to resuscitate this initiative and should pursue our course as an independent company," Calarco said.
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