Canada’s Barsele Minerals and Gold Line Resources have agreed to combine their operations, a move that will create one of the largest gold exploration portfolios in Scandinavia.
The companies signed an all-stock agreement, under which Barsele will acquire all of Gold Line’s issued and outstanding shares in exchange for Barsele’s shares.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Gold Line shareholders will be entitled to 0.7382 shares of Barsele for each share held.
Upon deal completion, Barsele’s current shareholders will own around 80% of its outstanding shares, with Gold Line shareholders owning the remaining 20%.
Through the deal, the companies are looking to integrate a large and prospective gold exploration portfolio in Sweden and Finland.
It includes a district-scale property, spread across more than 104,000 hectares of land and located on the Gold Line mineral belt in Sweden.
The property in Finland is the Oijärvi gold project, located within the Oijärvi greenstone belt.
The combined company will also have a portfolio underpinned by the Barsele gold project, which is currently in advanced stages and being developed by Barsele and its partner Agnico Eagle Mines.
This deal awaits the approval of Gold Line shareholders and requires at least 66.67% of votes in its favour.
It will result in Gold Line president and CEO Taj Singh becoming the president and CEO of the merged entity.
Singh said: “This combination gives Gold Line shareholders a more immediate re-rating and return potential through the advanced stage Barsele Project, while maintaining exposure to the new discovery potential across our district-scale gold exploration portfolio.”
Subject to the fulfilment of essential conditions and approvals, the deal is expected to close in February next year. Upon deal completion, Gold Line shares will be de-listed from the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Barsele president and CEO Gary Cope said: “This transaction is a unique opportunity to bring together complementary assets and teams to create a leading gold company with a district-scale focus in Scandinavia.
Cope further noted: “The leadership changes and acquisition of Gold Line's district-scale exploration portfolio and the Oijärvi Project allows the creation of a larger, stronger and more diversified company with improved access to capital and one of the largest gold exploration portfolios in Scandinavia.”
Concurrently, in connection with the deal, Barsele plans a non-brokered private placement to raise around C$1m ($742,000) for exploration programmes.
This placement will include the sale of up to 6.7 million subscription receipts of Barsele at C$0.15 apiece.
